Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Imposes a Moratorium on Federal Executions; Orders Review of Policies and Procedures

 

(Washington D.C.) Today, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland issued a memorandum imposing a moratorium on federal executions while a review of the Justice Department’s policies and procedures is pending.

“The Department of Justice must ensure that everyone in the federal criminal justice system is not only afforded the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States, but is also treated fairly and humanely,” said Attorney General Garland. “That obligation has special force in capital cases.”

In the last two years, the department made a series of changes to capital case policies and procedures and carried out the first federal executions in nearly two decades between July 2020 and January 2021. That included adopting a new protocol for administering lethal injections at the federal Bureau of Prisons, using the drug pentobarbital. Attorney General Garland’s memorandum directs the Deputy Attorney General to lead a multi-pronged review of these recent policy changes, including:

  • A review coordinated by the Office of Legal Policy of the Addendum to the Federal Execution Protocol, adopted in 2019, which will assess, among other things, the risk of pain and suffering associated with the use of pentobarbital.
  • A review coordinated by the Office of Legal Policy to consider changes to Justice Department regulations made in November 2020 that expanded the permissible methods of execution beyond lethal injection, and authorized the use of state facilities and personnel in federal executions.
  • A review of the Justice Manual’s capital case provisions, including the December 2020 and January 2021 changes to expedite execution of capital sentences.

The Attorney General’s memorandum requires the reviews to include consultations with a wide range of stakeholders including the relevant department components, other federal and state agencies, medical experts and experienced capital counsel, among others.

No federal executions will be scheduled while the reviews are pending.

High ourt: California Can’t Collect Charity Top Donor Names

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ordered California to stop collecting the names and addresses of top donors to charities. The justices voted 6-3 along ideological lines to side with two nonprofit groups, including one with links to billionaire Charles Koch, that argued California’s policy violates the First Amendment. The nonprofits had drawn strong support from groups across the political spectrum, including the American Civil Liberties Union and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. California requires all charities that collect money from state residents to give the state an IRS form identifying their largest contributors. The information is not supposed to be disclosed publicly.

Conservative High Court Upholds Arizona Voting Restrictions

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has upheld voting restrictions in Arizona in a decision that could make it harder to challenge other state limits put in place by Republican lawmakers following last year’s elections. The court reversed a lower court ruling in deciding that Arizona’s limits on who can return early ballots for another person and the state’s refusal to count ballots cast in the wrong precinct are not racially discriminatory. The federal appeals court in San Francisco had held that the measures disproportionately affected Black, Hispanic and Native American voters in violation of the landmark Voting Rights Act.

Trump Organization CFO Surrenders Ahead of Expected Charges

By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press
The Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer has surrendered to authorities ahead of an expected court appearance on the first criminal indictment in a two-year investigation into business practices at Donald Trump’s company. Allen Weisselberg was photographed walking into the the complex that houses criminal courts and the Manhattan district attorney’s office at around 6:20 a.m. Thursday. New York prosecutors were expected to announce an indictment accusing Weisselberg and the company of tax crimes related to fringe benefits for employees. The Trump Organization issued a statement defending Weisselberg, saying prosecutors were using him as “a pawn in a scorched-earth attempt to harm the former president.”

Pelosi Names Cheney To Panel Investigating Jan. 6 Riot

By ALAN FRAM and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has named Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and seven Democrats to a new select committee to investigate the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, will lead the panel. The new committee will investigate what went wrong when hundreds of supporters of then-President Donald Trump broke into the Capitol, hunted for lawmakers and interrupted the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory. Cheney is a Wyoming congresswoman and she says she’s “honored” to serve on the committee and that “Congress is obligated to conduct a full investigation of the most serious attack on our Capitol since 1814.”

‘We Can Do It’: Biden Brings Message Of Comfort To Surfside

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE and JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press
SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) — President Joe Biden is offering comfort to the grieving and federal support for the efforts to search for the missing and rebuild after last week’s collapse of a high-rise condo building along the Florida coastline. Biden was to survey the devastation Thursday and meet with first responders hunting for survivors among the rubble in Surfside. But underscoring the dangers still present in the search, work was halted before Biden arrived due to concerns about the stability of the section still standing. Biden and his wife Jill arrived in Florida a week after the collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South beachfront condominium killed at least 18 people and left 145 missing.

Wolf Vetoes Ban On Governmental, College ‘Vaccine Passports’

By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Republican-crafted bill to ban so-called COVID-19 “vaccine passports” and restrict the health secretary’s actions during health emergencies is dead after a veto by Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor. The measure that split both legislative chambers along party lines last month was vetoed Thursday by Gov. Tom Wolf. Legislative Republicans had sought to prevent what they view as a violation of health privacy through stigmatizing policies requiring proof of vaccination. The bill would have kept colleges and universities that receive state money from mandating proof of COVID-19 vaccination to undertake any activity. It also would have kept the health secretary from ordering closures or directing people to engage in disease mitigation efforts.

Xi Warns China Won’t Be Bullied At Communist Party Centenary

By KEN MORITSUGU Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned that anyone who tries to bully China “will face broken heads and bloodshed.” That came Thursday in a defiant speech hailing the country’s rise that elicited loud cheers from a carefully chosen crowd at a celebration of the centenary of the founding of the ruling Communist Party. Xi appeared to be hitting back at the U.S. and others that have criticized the rising power’s trade and technology polices, military expansion and human rights record. The unusually forceful language also seemed aimed at revving up and playing to a domestic audience. The rally in some ways recalled the mass events held by Mao Zedong, communist China’s founding leader.

Man Sentenced To 26 To 52 Years In Arson Fire That Killed 2

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man who pleaded guilty in the deaths of two men has been sentenced to 26 to 52 years in prison. The bodies were found after a fire in western Pennsylvania more than three years ago. Sixty-one-year-old Vincent Smith was sentenced Wednesday in Allegheny County Court on earlier guilty pleas to voluntary manslaughter and arson endangering persons in the February 2018 blaze in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood. Authorities alleged that Smith was fighting with 71-year-old homeowner Steven Pariser and 54-year-old John Robert Van Dyke over marijuana when he beat them and threw them down the basement steps, hiding their bodies with trash bags and clothes before starting the fire.

Aliquippa Council Announces Deadline For Police Applications

Story by Beaver County Radio Correspondent, Sandy Giordano

(Aliquippa, PA) – Qualified police officers have until Friday, July 9, 2021 at 4 p.m. to apply for full time police officer positions in the City of Aliquippa. Minorities and females are urged to apply.

K’Shawn Sheppard was promoted from part time to full time laborer based on the recommendation of Road Department Superintendent  Alex Scott.
Council meets in regular session via ZOOM on Wednesday, July 7, 2021 at 7 p.m.