en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Mangione
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During his second presidency, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that requires the death penalty to be used wherever possible.
Trump’s January 20, 2025 death-penalty executive order did not blanketly require the death penalty “wherever possible.” It directed the attorney general to pursue it for crimes of a severity demanding it and, for certain categories, only where consistent with applicable law.
Full reasoning
The sentence overstates what Executive Order 14164 does.
The order's actual text says:
- "The Attorney General shall pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use."
- "In addition to pursuing the death penalty where possible, the Attorney General shall, where consistent with applicable law, pursue Federal jurisdiction and seek the death penalty ... for every federal capital crime involving" the murder of a law-enforcement officer or a capital crime committed by an undocumented immigrant.
- It also says the order "shall be implemented consistent with applicable law" and "does not ... create any right or benefit ... enforceable at law."
So the order is not a blanket requirement that the death penalty be used "wherever possible." It is a policy directive to the attorney general, limited by existing law and with special mandatory emphasis on only certain categories of cases.
2 sources
- Restoring The Death Penalty And Protecting Public Safety - The White House
Sec. 3(a): "The Attorney General shall pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use." Sec. 3(b): "In addition to pursuing the death penalty where possible, the Attorney General shall, where consistent with applicable law, pursue Federal jurisdiction and seek the death penalty..." Sec. 7: "This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law."
- Executive Order 14164 of January 20, 2025: Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety
The Federal Register text states that the Attorney General shall pursue the death penalty for crimes of a severity demanding its use and, "in addition to pursuing the death penalty where possible," seek it in certain listed federal capital cases only "where consistent with applicable law." It also says the order creates no enforceable legal right.