Exclusive: A.G. Garland withdraws federal execution drug protocol following review

Source: Law Dork

Exclusive: A.G. Garland withdraws federal execution drug protocol following review
"[T]here is significant uncertainty about whether the use of pentobarbital as a single-drug lethal injection for execution treats individuals humanely," Garland wrote.

Chris Geidner
Jan 16, 2025

Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered the head of the Bureau of Prisons to withdraw the federal government’s current execution drug protocol, leaving the federal government with no drug protocol in place to carry out executions.

The current drug protocol, the use of pentobarbital in a single-drug lethal injection, was last used to carry out executions in the first Trump administration.

After a multi-year review ordered in 2021, the Department’s Office of Legal Policy concluded — and Garland echoed — that there is “significant uncertainty” surrounding the use of pentobarbital that justifies withdrawing the protocol authorizing it.

“[T]he review concluded that there is significant uncertainty about whether the use of pentobarbital as a single-drug lethal injection for execution treats individuals humanely and avoids unnecessary pain and suffering,” Garland wrote Wednesday in a letter to the director of the Bureau of Prisons. Writing that “it cannot be said with reasonable confidence” that the pentobarbital protocol protects “the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States" and ensures that those facing execution are treated “fairly and humanely,” the attorney general concluded “that protocol should be rescinded, and not reinstated unless and until that uncertainty is resolved.“

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Read more: https://www.lawdork.com/p/garland-withdraws-federal-execution-drug-protocol