The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that it is reviving firing squads and restoring lethal injection as part of a broader push to expand and accelerate the use of the federal death penalty.
According to the statement, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has approved seeking death sentences against nine defendants after the department ended a Biden-era pause on federal executions.
The DOJ said several changes are being implemented immediately.
Those include readopting the lethal injection protocol used during President Donald Trump’s first administration, adding additional execution methods such as firing squads, and streamlining internal procedures to speed up death penalty cases.
The department framed the changes as a law-and-order measure.
“These steps are critical to deterring the most barbaric crimes, delivering justice for victims, and providing long-overdue closure to surviving loved ones,” the statement said.
Blanche also credited Trump’s leadership.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims,” Blanche said.
The announcement marks a major reversal from the Biden administration.
Former President Joe Biden had imposed a pause on federal executions while reviewing death penalty policies and fairness concerns.
That moratorium effectively halted new executions at the federal level.
Trump, by contrast, resumed federal executions during his first term after a nearly two-decade gap.
Between 2020 and early 2021, the federal government carried out multiple executions in the final months of his presidency.
The new policy signals that the second Trump administration intends not only to continue capital punishment but to broaden how it is carried out.
Firing squads are rare in modern America, but remain legal in some jurisdictions, as Trending Politics reported.
Supporters argue they can be more reliable than lethal injection, which has faced repeated legal challenges over drug sourcing, botched procedures, and prolonged deaths.
Opponents argue that all execution methods raise serious moral and constitutional concerns.
The Eighth Amendment bans cruel and unusual punishment, and execution methods often face court review under that standard.
The DOJ did not immediately specify where firing squad executions would be conducted or what infrastructure would be required.
Federal executions are typically carried out at the U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute, Indiana.
That means practical implementation may require facility changes, new protocols, or coordination with states that already use firing squads.
The approval of nine new death penalty cases also signals that prosecutors have been directed to more aggressively seek capital punishment.
That can affect terrorism, mass murder, child killings, murders of law enforcement officers, and other eligible federal crimes.
