The Justice Department is rescinding its protocol for federal executions that allowed for single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital, after a government review raised concerns about the potential for “unnecessary pain and suffering.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland's order to withdraw the lethal injection policy comes days before President-elect Donald Trump, who is expected to restart federal executions, is set to return to the White House. Trump’s Justice Department could reinstate the protocol to use pentobarbital as a single drug to carry out executions.
