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      capital punishment

      Former U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a speech

      'What the Republican Party Stands For': Trump Reportedly Wants to Expand, Televise Executions

      "This is batshit crazy," responded Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan. "This is how dictators handle crime. This man should never, ever be president again."

      Jake Johnson
      Feb 15, 2023

      Former President Donald Trump has reportedly told his close associates that he wants to expand the use of the federal death penalty—and even take steps to turn the United States' internationally condemned use of capital punishment into a public spectacle—if he wins another White House term in 2024.

      Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Rolling Stonereported Tuesday that Trump is "still committed to expanding the use of the federal death penalty and bringing back banned methods of execution" such as firing squads, hanging, the guillotine, and group killings.

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      donald trump
      Rep. Ayanna Pressley

      26 Dems in Congress Urge DOJ to Continue Moratorium on Federal Executions

      The lawmakers asserted that "there are serious concerns about arbitrariness in the application of the death penalty, the disparate impact of the death penalty on people of color, and the alarming number of exonerations of individuals previously sentenced to death."

      Brett Wilkins
      Jan 04, 2023

      Arguing that "the death penalty is cruel, racist, and fundamentally unjust," U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley on Tuesday led over two dozen congressional Democrats in calling on the Biden administration to continue its 18-month pause on federal executions.

      In a letter to U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland spearheaded by Pressley (D-Mass.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbn (D-Ill.), 26 Democratic members of Congress urged the Biden administration to rescind a series of Trump-era amendments that expanded execution methods, allowed the Justice Department to skip important regulatory steps while pursuing federal executions, and made state prisons and personnel available for federal executions, among other changes.

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      capital punishment
      Scott Panetti

      Lawyers Urge Supreme Court to Halt Execution of Mentally Ill Man

      Defense attorneys argue that the execution of Scott Panetti, slated for Wednesday, violates ban on cruel and unusual punishment

      Sarah Lazare
      Dec 02, 2014

      Lawyers are appealing to the United States Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to stop the state of Texas from executing their client, Scott Panetti, who has been diagnosed with severe mental illness, including schizophrenia.

      Defense lawyers argue that the execution of a mentally ill person, who is unable to fully grasp the sentence, violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

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      Death Penalty
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