DOJ Greenlights Firing Squads to Accelerate Federal Executions

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Justice Department announced Friday it will permit firing squads for federal executions, marking a significant expansion of methods as the Trump administration seeks to ramp up capital punishment. Officials confirmed the policy change alongside reauthorization of single-drug lethal injections using pentobarbital, the protocol employed for 13 federal executions in 2020-2021 -- more than under any modern president.[1][2] The Biden administration had scrapped pentobarbital from federal protocols due to concerns it could cause unnecessary pain and suffering.[1][2] Previously, the federal government had never included firing squads in its execution protocols, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.[1] In 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr's Justice Department issued a Federal Register rule allowing lethal injection or 'any other manner prescribed by the state' where the sentence was imposed, opening the door to alternatives like electrocution, nitrogen gas, or firing squads used in some states.[1] Five states -- Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah -- currently authorize firing squads.[1] The policy shift aims to expedite death penalty cases stalled by legal challenges over drug availability and botched lethal injections. No immediate executions were scheduled, but the move signals a broader push to resume federal capital punishment after a hiatus.[1][4] Advocates for the death penalty hailed the announcement as a step toward justice for victims' families, while opponents, including death penalty abolition groups, condemned it as a return to 'cruel and archaic' practices. The policy applies nationwide to federal cases, potentially affecting dozens of inmates on death row at facilities like Terre Haute, Indiana.[1] This development follows Trump's 2025 return to the White House and vows to strengthen law enforcement. Federal executions ground to a halt under Biden, with none carried out since 2021 despite 40 inmates remaining on death row.[1]