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US Justice Department Expands Federal Execution Methods to Include Firing Squad, Electrocution, and Gas
The Trump-era Justice Department said it seeks to expand federal capital punishment by adding firing squad, electrocution, and gas to lethal injection. This comes after prior actions on the federal death penalty, including a 2020 resumption of executions and Biden-era commutations.
Why It Matters
If enacted, the federal death penalty would include more execution methods, intensifying political and legal debate over capital punishment in the United States.
Timeline
5 Events
DOJ seeks to add firing squad, electrocution, and gas to federal executions
April 24, 2026
The Trump Justice Department, via acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, said it is seeking to expand federal capital punishment by adding firing squad, electrocution, and gas to lethal injection as methods of execution.
Trump calls for expansion of death penalty on first day of second term
January 2025
On his first day in the White House for his second term, President Trump called for expanding the use of the death penalty.
Biden commuted 37 of 40 federal death-row sentences
January 2025
Before leaving the White House in January 2025, President Biden commuted 37 of the 40 inmates on federal death row.
13 federal lethal-injection executions in Trump's final six months
2024
The article states there were 13 executions by lethal injection in Trump's final six months in power, the most for a US leader in 120 years.
End of federal execution pause under Trump in 2020
2020
The article notes that the Trump administration ended a 17-year pause in federal executions in 2020, resuming federal capital punishment during his first term.