Putting a crowbar in the machinery of death

Better a little late than never:

Attorney General Merrick Garland has ordered a temporarily halt to federal executions as Justice Department senior officials review the policies and procedures for the controversial punishment. “Serious concerns have been raised about the continued use of the death penalty across the country, including arbitrariness in its application, disparate impact on people of color, and the troubling number of exonerations in capital and other serious cases. Those weighty concerns deserve careful study and evaluation by lawmakers,” Garland said in a memo issued on Thursday.There has not been a scheduled federal execution since President Joe Biden was sworn in to office. “As the President has made clear, he has significant concerns about the death penalty and how it is implemented, and he believes the Department of Justice should return to its prior practice of not carrying out executions,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.

The next step should be commutations for the 46 people on death row to make it harder for the next Francoist Attorney General.