Updated January 16, 2021 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern
Federal Execution Restart: 13 Executions in 6 Months — Including First Woman in 67 Years
The Trump DOJ resumed federal executions in July 2020 after 17 years with no federal executions. The 13 executions were the most in any comparable period since at least the 1940s. Attorney General Barr overrode objections from career death penalty specialists about the single-drug protocol. Multiple executions were carried out over last-minute legal challenges. Lisa Montgomery, the first woman executed by the federal government since 1953, was executed despite documented severe mental illness and a history of extreme childhood sexual abuse.