Story perspectives

Justice Dept Revives Firing Squad, Adds Execution Methods

4/25/2026

Summary

Story summary

The Justice Department’s April 24 memo revived firing squads and added electrocution, pentobarbital injections and gas chambers as execution methods for death-row inmates after appeals.
Attorney General Todd Blanche cited a report that the Supreme Court has never ruled any execution method unconstitutional.
A 2025 Gallup poll showed death-penalty support at 52 percent, lowest in fifty years.
South Carolina executed Brad Sigmon by firing squad, the first execution by that method since 2010.

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Story summary

The Justice Department’s April 24 memo revived firing squads and added electrocution, pentobarbital injections and gas chambers as execution methods for death-row inmates after appeals.
Attorney General Todd Blanche cited a report that the Supreme Court has never ruled any execution method unconstitutional.
A 2025 Gallup poll showed death-penalty support at 52 percent, lowest in fifty years.
South Carolina executed Brad Sigmon by firing squad, the first execution by that method since 2010.