Attorney General Garland Withdraws Federal Execution Protocol, Keeps Moratorium

Three and a half years after announc­ing its inves­ti­ga­tion into the fed­er­al death penal­ty pro­to­col, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on January 15, 2025 that the Department of Justice is rescind­ing the fed­er­al government’s sin­gle-drug pen­to­bar­bi­tal lethal injec­tion pro­to­col (DOJ Review of the Federal Execution Protocol available here).

The deci­sion was based on what AG Garland called ​“sig­nif­i­cant uncer­tain­ty” about whether exe­cu­tions by pen­to­bar­bi­tal caused unnec­es­sary pain and suf­fer­ing. The DOJ’s state­ment expressed a desire to ​“err on the side of treat­ing indi­vid­u­als humane­ly.”

Single-drug lethal injec­tion is autho­rized by statute in 20 of the 27 states where the death penal­ty is legal.

A moratorium on federal executions has been in place since 2021, and only three people remain on federal death row after Democratic President Joe Biden converted 37 of their sentences to life in prison.