Trump Orders That Federal Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty in D.C. Cases Despite Local Opposition.

President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in certain criminal cases in the nation’s capital, a move that places the federal government’s authority over capital punishment in direct tension with Washington’s long-standing opposition to the practice.

The order instructs the attorney general and the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia to pursue federal jurisdiction “to the maximum degree practicable” and to seek the death penalty “in all appropriate cases” where the law allows. Trump described capital punishment as an essential tool for deterring “grotesque and lethal violence,” linking the directive to his administration’s earlier actions aimed at reducing crime in the city.

The death penalty has been absent from the District’s own criminal code for decades. The last execution carried out under local authority was in 1957, and Congress abolished the District’s mandatory death sentence for first-degree murder in 1962. In 1981, the D.C. Council formally repealed capital punishment, and a 1992 referendum saw voters reject reinstating it by a wide margin.

Federal law, however, permits the death penalty for certain crimes, and in rare cases the U.S. government has pursued capital charges in the District. Congress reinstated the federal death penalty in 1988 and broadened it in 1994, making dozens of federal offenses eligible for death sentences. While federal executions remain uncommon, the Justice Department under Trump previously oversaw a series of executions of 13 federal prisoners in 2020 and 2021 before a later moratorium was imposed.

By directing prosecutors to seek capital punishment wherever federal statutes allow, the new order sets up a likely clash with local sentiment and could test the limits of federal authority in a city where voters and elected officials have repeatedly rejected the practice. It also raises practical questions about how federal prosecutors will identify cases that meet the law’s strict standards and how courts will navigate the lengthy and complex procedures that accompany any death penalty case.

The Justice Department has not said how soon it will begin applying the order, but the directive marks a sharp turn for a jurisdiction that has not imposed a death sentence under its own laws for more than sixty years.