The Daily Fuckup

The Justice Department said Friday, April 24, 2026, that it was readopting the federal execution protocol used during President Donald Trump’s first term, expanding permitted execution methods to include the firing squad, and streamlining internal processes in capital cases. The announcement did not set an execution date or change any individual sentence. Instead, it marked a formal policy move meant to restore the government’s ability to carry out lawful federal death sentences after appeals are complete. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-takes-actions-strengthen-federal-death-penalty))

In its press release, the department said it was directing the Bureau of Prisons to reinstate the first Trump-era protocol, which relies on pentobarbital as the lethal agent, and to expand that protocol to include additional manners of execution such as the firing squad. DOJ also said the Bureau of Prisons should examine options to relocate or expand federal death row, or build an additional execution facility, so the government can accommodate more than one method if needed. Those steps are part of a broader report the department released the same day on what it called restoring and strengthening the federal death penalty. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-takes-actions-strengthen-federal-death-penalty))

The report argues that pentobarbital is constitutional under the Eighth Amendment and lays out a menu of changes the department says could speed capital cases. Among them are proposals to streamline habeas review in state capital cases, limit when clemency petitions can be filed, and revise the Justice Manual to return the department to a more traditional approach to capital prosecutions. None of those steps is self-executing; the department said some would require future rulemaking or congressional action. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-takes-actions-strengthen-federal-death-penalty))

The firing squad stands out because it is the most visible addition to the federal playbook. The report says Supreme Court precedent has not foreclosed that method and notes that several states already permit it in some form. But DOJ’s action on Friday was still an authorization and planning step, not an execution order. For now, the practical effect is to widen the government’s options and signal that the department wants a faster, more flexible death-penalty system than the one inherited from the Biden years. ([justice.gov](https://www.justice.gov/ag/media/1437806/dl))