Published on 4/25/2026
Yesterday, Friday, the US Department of Justice called on the government to adopt execution by firing squad, electric shock, and gas inhalation as methods of executing those convicted of the most serious federal crimes.
The ministry said – in a report that pointed out the difficulties facing obtaining the necessary medications for lethal injections – that Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche – who issued the report – authorized the pursuit of death sentences against 9 people, after US President Donald Trump canceled the decision to suspend the implementation of federal death sentences issued by former President Joe Biden.
The ministry added that among the measures taken was re-adopting the lethal injection protocol that was used during the first Trump administration, expanding the scope of the protocol to include additional execution methods such as shooting, and simplifying internal procedures to speed up executions.
“Under Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing up for victims,” Blanch said.
The report came within the framework of implementing Trump’s pledge – during his last election campaign – to resume the application of the death penalty in his second presidential term. In his first term – which ended in early 2021 – Trump resumed the implementation of the death penalty after a 20-year hiatus, as he executed 13 federal prisoners by lethal injection within a few months at the end of his term.
In the report, Blanche instructed the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Prisons to amend the execution protocol “to include additional, constitutional methods of execution currently provided by the law of some states.”
In his instructions, Blanche referred to the old methods of execution by firing squad and electrocution, and the new method of execution by gas suffocation, which the state of Alabama took the initiative to implement in 2024.
The report stated that this amendment would help ensure that the ministry was prepared to carry out legal executions, even if a specific drug was not available.
Former President Joe Biden – a Democrat – commuted the sentences of 37 convicts on death row in federal prisons, leaving only 3 men remaining.
