Trump Administration Should Halt Executions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nancy Rodriguez media@acslaw.org

Washington, D.C.– American Constitution Society President Russ Feingold released the following statement in response to the federal government’s execution of Brandon Bernard this evening and the anticipated execution of Alfred Bourgeois tomorrow.

“With tonight’s execution of Brandon Bernard and tomorrow’s schedule executions of Alfred Bourgeois, the Trump administration has yet again revealed a stunning level of cruelty and a disregard for even the most fundamental of political norms.

Mr. Bernard is the ninth and Mr. Bourgeois would be the tenth person executed by the federal government since the seventeen-year moratorium on federal executions ended this July. The shocking speed with which President Trump and Attorney General Barr have pursued executions is captured by one simple fact: They have killed more people in less than five months than the federal government had previously executed, in total, since 1953. Their cavalier attitude towards human life is obscene.

With four more executions scheduled between now and President-elect Biden’s inauguration, President Trump continues to flout a centuries-long practice of foregoing executions in the midst of a transition into a new presidential administration. President Trump is the only lame duck president in modern history to have the gall to executed someone after being voted out of the White House, cementing his reputation for flagrantly disregarding norms, even when lives hang in the balance. His macabre and frenzied race to maximize the death toll is an affront to the American people, and comes as public support for the death penalty, in the U.S. and around the world, has reached a near historic nadir.

If President Trump and his administration have any decency, they will halt all further executions.”

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AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY
ACS believes that the Constitution is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We interpret the Constitution based on its text and against the backdrop of history and lived experience. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, and many others, we work to uphold the Constitution in the 21st Century by ensuring that law is a force for protecting our democracy and the public interest and for improving people’s lives. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org or on Twitter @acslaw