On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an order directing the attorney general to help states get the lethal injection drugs needed for executions.
The Associated Press reports that the order also pushes for stronger federal enforcement of the death penalty.
The directive tells the Justice Department to take “all necessary and lawful action” to ensure states have enough drugs for executions. It also instructs federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in cases involving the murder of law enforcement officers or serious crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.
Federal Executions to Resume
The order signals a return to more frequent federal executions.
During Trump’s first term, 13 federal executions took place, the most under any president in modern history. Federal executions were paused in 2021 under President Joe Biden, who also commuted 37 federal death sentences to life in prison.
Only three inmates remain on federal death row.
Trump’s order also calls for challenging legal decisions that have restricted the use of the death penalty.
“The government’s most important duty is to protect its citizens,” the order says. “We will not allow efforts to weaken the laws that punish the most horrible crimes.”
Expanding the Death Penalty
Trump has long supported expanding capital punishment, including for drug dealers and human smugglers. He has praised stricter punishments in other countries, such as China, and promised to take a tougher approach in the U.S.
The order also seeks to bring back the use of pentobarbital for executions.
This drug protocol was used during Trump’s first term but was halted under the Biden administration, which raised concerns about its potential to cause unnecessary pain.
Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, is expected to reinstate it once confirmed.
High-Profile Inmates Awaiting Execution
The three inmates still on federal death row include:
Dylann Roof, convicted of the 2015 killings of nine Black church members in Charleston, South Carolina.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber who killed three people in 2013.
Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people in a 2018 synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
