WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice has authorized death penalty prosecutions against at least 42 defendants in 34 cases since Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to figures compiled by The Intercept based on legal records and data from the Justice Department and Federal Capital Trial Project. In at least two additional cases, federal prosecutors have conveyed plans to seek the death penalty but have not yet submitted a notice of intent.

President Joe Biden commuted 37 federal death sentences before leaving office, leaving three individuals on federal death row. On Christmas Day, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, referring to Biden's commutations as pardons and telling the commuted prisoners to "GO TO HELL!"

In January 2025, Donald Trump issued an executive order stating his administration would "pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use." That order also called on states to seek new death sentences at the state level against the 37 men whose federal sentences were commuted by Biden. Federal executions increased after Trump took office in January 2025.

Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo to Department of Justice prosecutors in February 2025, directing them to seek the death penalty wherever possible. Bondi's memo outlined that, absent mitigating circumstances, federal prosecutors are expected to seek the death penalty in cases involving the murder of a law-enforcement officer and capital crimes committed by individuals illegally present in the United States. Bondi also ordered prosecutors to prioritize capital cases involving gang members and people accused of international drug crimes.

Bondi announced that the Department of Justice would review every decision in which the Biden administration declined to seek a death sentence. Following this review, Department of Justice prosecutors filed a notice of intent against 15 defendants who had previously been told they would not face the death penalty. Three cases remain in which prosecutors are seeking to move forward with a capital trial despite the Biden Department of Justice's previous decision not to seek death.

Many of the new death penalty cases have originated in states where the death penalty has been abolished, including New Mexico, Colorado, and Maryland. Some new death penalty cases have also originated in the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than 70 percent of the defendants facing new death penalty prosecutions are people of color, most of them Black.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche released a 48-page report by the Office of Legal Policy in late April titled "Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty." This report included a chart showing the Biden Department of Justice's rejection of capital cases.

Roughly a third of the defendants for whom Attorney General Pam Bondi filed notices of intent have had the death penalty removed from their cases. Presiding judges have struck down government death penalty authorizations in numerous cases. The Department of Justice withdrew its prior death penalty authorization in one case involving two co-defendants. Additionally, two death penalty cases were resolved with guilty pleas. At least 27 defendants are currently facing federal capital trials under the Trump administration.

"The American public has made a very, very decisive turn away from the death penalty during the last 20 years," said Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "Twenty years ago, we had five times the number of new death sentences than we had last year." Maher added, "The Trump administration's death penalty plans have already come apart in many cases."