US Justice Department Authorizes Firing Squads and Lethal Gas for Federal Executions
Washington, Saturday, 25 April 2026.
Reversing a previous moratorium, the Justice Department will now allow federal executions by firing squad, lethal gas, and electrocution, marking a dramatic shift in US criminal justice policy.
Reversing the Moratorium and Expanding Methods
On Friday, April 24, 2026, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy released a 48-page directive titled “Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty” [1][3]. This newly implemented policy directs federal prisons to incorporate firing squads, lethal gas, and electrocution into their execution protocols [1][3]. The shift marks a definitive end to the moratorium on federal executions established in 2021 by former Attorney General Merrick Garland under the Democratic Biden administration [2][3].
The groundwork for this sweeping change began on January 20, 2025, when Republican President Donald Trump, on his first day back in office, signed Executive Order 14164 [1][3]. The order instructed the DOJ to resume capital punishment for severe crimes, including instances where an undocumented immigrant murders a law enforcement officer [1][3]. Following this, on February 5, 2025, then-Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a memorandum officially lifting the federal moratorium [3]. The Justice Department has since rescinded the Biden-era pause and authorized seeking death sentences against 44 defendants, with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche approving nine of these authorizations to date [2].
Reinstating Pentobarbital as the Gold Standard
Central to the DOJ’s updated protocol is the readoption of pentobarbital, a fast-acting barbiturate that depresses the central nervous system [3]. The Friday memo defends pentobarbital as the “gold standard” for lethal injections [1]. While the maximum clinical dosage of pentobarbital for anesthetic purposes is 500 milligrams per day, the federal execution protocol utilizes two consecutive doses of 2.5 grams, totaling 5000 milligrams [3].
The reliance on pentobarbital has faced intense scrutiny. In January 2025, Garland suspended its use indefinitely after a DOJ report cited risks of “flash pulmonary edema” and unnecessary pain [3]. However, the Trump administration’s DOJ counters this by pointing to 13 executions carried out between July 2020 and January 2021, where witness accounts noted inmates appearing to fall into a comfortable sleep within seconds [3]. Broadening the authorized execution methods to include firing squads and gas asphyxiation ensures that the DOJ can legally proceed with executions even if activists disrupt the supply chain for lethal injection drugs [1][3].
Aligning Federal Protocols with State Laws
The expansion of execution methods aligns federal practices with the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994, which requires the federal government to carry out executions using the methods prescribed by the state where the sentence was imposed [3]. Currently, five states—Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah—permit executions by firing squad under specific conditions [1][2][3]. Furthermore, alternative methods are gaining traction at the state level; in 2024, Alabama became the first state to execute a prisoner using nitrogen gas, a method since adopted by four other states [1].
Some state legislatures are already updating their protocols in ways that will directly impact federal executions. For example, an Idaho law slated to take effect on July 1, 2026, reverses the sequence of execution methods, making the firing squad the primary method if lethal injection drugs are unavailable [3]. The DOJ’s new memo indicates that the federal execution protocol may be modified to allow inmates to affirmatively choose their manner of execution, provided it is legal in their sentencing state [3].
Political Polarization and Future Directives
The policy reversal highlights a stark partisan divide. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche argued that the Biden administration failed to protect the public by refusing to execute dangerous criminals, pointing to former Democratic President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates on December 23, 2024 [1][3]. Conversely, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin condemned the expansion of the federal death penalty on the social media platform X, calling it a “stain on our history” and describing the methods as “cruel, immoral, and discriminatory” [1]. Meanwhile, public support for capital punishment has waned over the decades, dropping from 80% in 1994 to a lower figure recorded in an October 2025 Gallup poll [alert! ‘The exact percentage for 2025 was not provided in the source material, only the historical 1994 baseline’] [2].
Looking ahead, the DOJ is preparing further aggressive regulatory actions. In the coming weeks, the department plans to publish proposed rules that would prohibit capital inmates from submitting clemency petitions until their direct appeals and first collateral attacks are finalized [2][3]. Additionally, the DOJ intends to empower states to streamline the federal habeas review process for capital cases [2]. Within the next six months, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons is expected to deliver a report detailing options to expand federal death row or construct a second federal execution facility, signaling a long-term commitment to accelerating capital punishment in the United States [3].