Following his return to the White House last January, President Donald Trump wasted little time in reshaping the federal government’s approach to law enforcement and criminal justice. In a swift and decisive executive action, Trump officially overturned the moratorium on federal executions that had been established by his predecessor, President Joe Biden. Along with dismantling the moratorium, Trump signed a sweeping executive order explicitly aimed at "restoring" the death penalty and "protecting public safety." This rapid policy shift marked a dramatic return to the assertive, law-and-order stance that characterized the final year of Trump’s first term in office, once again bringing the complex and highly contentious issue of capital punishment—both in the civilian federal system and the United States military—into the center of national debate.
Trump’s Reinstatement of Federal Executions Reignites Debate Over Capital Punishment, Presidential Authority, and the History of Military Justice
