The Department of Justice has proposed changes that could allow states to fast-track federal review of state death penalty cases, a move that could shorten the time between conviction and execution by years.
"This proposed rule will help states achieve the promise of swift and effective justice for victims of capital crimes," Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday in a news release.
A proposed rule change published Monday in the Federal Register would allow states to move more quickly to execute convicted offenders.
Bondi argued regulations imposed during the Obama and Biden administrations prevented states from using a 1996 federal law to cut the length of federal review in half if they meet certain criteria.
Since 2015, 25 states have enacted 66 laws addressing state systems of capital punishment, according to the National Council of State Legislatures.
Trends included expanding or limiting aggravating factors and modifying execution methods and procedures. States also changed trial and appellate procedures, updated laws to comply with litigation outcomes, and repealed the practice altogether.
State-issued death sentences can be challenged in federal courts, a process that can take years and sometimes ends at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bondi's proposal would make it easier to fast-track proceedings under a provision of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which allows that option for states that demonstrate a robust post-conviction review process for indigent prisoners.
The changes would remove the definition of "indigent prisoners," leaving that interpretation to the states.
They also would end mandatory public notice and comment periods for state applications, according to the Federal Register.
The rule would impose a deadline for the attorney general to decide on a state application and make that decision final and permanent, without a recertification or revocation process.
"We are fulfilling the Department of Justice's commitment to restoring the death penalty as the ultimate punishment for the worst criminals in America," Bondi said.
Among Trump's first actions in his second term was an executive order instructing Bondi to seek death sentences in federal cases and to help states acquire lethal injection drugs to pursue executions.
Bondi then rescinded what she called a "shameful" moratorium on federal executions imposed under former President Joe Biden.
"Recently, however, the Department's political leadership disregarded these important responsibilities and supplanted the will of the people with their own personal beliefs," Bondi said in a February 2025 memo to federal prosecutors.
"Those at the very highest levels of the Department failed to seek death sentences against child rapists, mass murderers, terrorists, and other criminals. More appalling, the Department's leadership sought and received from former President Biden — commutations for the death sentences of 37 murderers that Department of Justice prosecutors had tirelessly secured over the past three decades.
"These actions severely undermined the rule of law and grievously damaged the public's trust in the justice system. For the victims of these horrific crimes and the loved ones left behind, these actions betrayed our sacred duty and broke our promise to achieve justice.
"This shameful era ends today. Going forward, the Department of Justice will once again act as the law demands — including by seeking death sentences in appropriate cases and swiftly implementing those sentences in accordance with the law."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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