Published on: Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Attorney General William Barr announced on Monday, June 15, 2020, that he had directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to schedule the executions of four prisoners beginning in mid-July through the end of August. Barr had attempted to restart executions last summer but a federal trial court blocked the move, ruling that the government’s plan for administering lethal injection was “not authorized” by federal law. In April, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit court reversed that order (2-1), issuing three opinions that took different perspectives on what the law required for federal executions. That decision cleared the way for the BOP to schedule execution dates. Defense attorneys have since asked the Supreme Court to review that decision, which remains pending.