Trump Orders Attorney General To Facilitate Lethal Injections for Death Penalties
As part of the wave of executive orders issued on the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump ordered the Attorney General (or, in this case, the Acting Attorney General James McHenry III, as Pam Bondi is still awaiting Senate confirmation) to take all necessary and lawful action to ensure that states have access to drugs needed to perform executions by lethal injections.
The order, titled Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety, also instructed the Justice Department to pursue the death penalty when a crime involves the killing of a law enforcement officer and to prepare to conduct lethal injection executions at the federal level again. None were carried out during the Biden administration.
Achieving these goals may prove more difficult than anticipated. There are a number of issues surrounding the use of lethal injections, including the availability of the necessary drugs.
What To Know About Lethal Injections
While Oklahoma was the first state to adopt lethal injection in 1977, it was Texas that first used it as a form of execution in 1982. Promised to be a quick and humane method of execution that took five minutes and offered a painless death, that is not always the case. Issues continue to crop up regardless of whether a single or three-drug protocol is employed.
Lethal injection wasn't a tested medical procedure when it was approved for use. Rather, it was an idea hatched between a legislator and a pathologist. A mixture of drugs, including an anesthetic, would in theory provide an execution with minimum suffering.
Botched executions have proven this untrue. Other problems have surfaced as well.
Access to Drugs
Trump's demand that states be supplied with drugs for lethal injection executions may prove challenging.
States that perform executions by lethal injection have issues getting the required drug or drugs. The manufacturers often object to their products being used in toxic doses for executions. The medications are intended for treatment, as opposed to ending human life.
Manufacturers of these drugs also have difficulty keeping up with demand from hospitals. This further dampens their willingness to supply states for executions.
The HBO show "Last Week Tonight," through an FOIA request, discovered that the pentobarbital used in the federal executions in 2020 and 2021 was obtained from Absolute Standards, a company based in Connecticut.
The company was registered with the DEA to produce the drug, but not for human use. In 2024, Absolute Standards announced they had ceased making the drug for use in executions, which leaves would-be federal executioners without a supplier.
Other Hurdles
There's also a problem with finding qualified medical personnel to administer the procedure. While the Hippocratic Oath is no longer a staple of medical schools, many physicians are loathe to take the life of a healthy person. This can lead to unqualified staff tasked with finding suitable veins and other crucial aspects of the lethal injection process.
Most states keep the identities of the executioners confidential. There is little to no sharing of information about the drug amounts used, so the process remains largely experimental.
These issues are compounded by the federal government no longer having a lethal execution protocol in place. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland rescinded the protocol put in place by former Attorney General Bill Barr during Trump's first term following a Department of Justice review of the policies and procedures involved with lethal injection.
Waiting in the Shadow of the Gallows
Perhaps in response to Trump's stated zeal to begin federal executions again, President Joseph Biden commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates before leaving office. These prisoners will instead serve life in prison with no hope of parole.
There are only three federal prisoners currently facing execution: Robert Bowers, who carried out the antisemitic massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue; Dylann Roof, guilty of the hate crime killings of nine black members of a church in South Carolina; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber.
It seems likely that the Trump Administration will facilitate their executions. For now, the method used will remain a question.
Related Resources
- Lawyer Chooses Lethal Injection for Client in South Carolina's First Execution in 14 Years (FindLaw's Practice of Law)
- Death Penalty Laws by State (FindLaw's Criminal Procedure)
- Swift Decisions, Silent Explanations: Stays of Execution and the "Shadow Docket" (FindLaw's Federal Courts)
