US attorney general orders pause on federal executions – as it happened

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- Joan E Greve and Maanvi Singh

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Civil rights and advocacy organizations had called on the Biden administration to halt federal executions from the moment he took office.

BREAKING: Thank you, AG Garland!

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Imposes a Moratorium on Federal Executions; Orders Review of Policies and Procedures https://t.co/ahtlsqcn70

As youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman proclaimed on your inaugural stage: If we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children's birthright." By taking immediate action to commute the sentences of the 49 individuals on federal death row, you have the ability to show that the Biden-Harris administration will govern with mercy and will work to put the might of the federal government behind policies that recognize, reflect, and respect the dignity, humanity, and rights of all individuals.