The U.S. Department of Justice will permit the use of firing squads as an execution method as the administration of Donald Trump moves to accelerate federal capital punishment cases, officials said Friday.

The policy shift also reinstates the use of single-drug lethal injections involving pentobarbital, a protocol used during Trump’s first term to carry out 13 executions—the highest number under any modern presidency. The previous administration of Joe Biden had removed pentobarbital from federal guidelines due to concerns about potential pain and suffering.

The announcement comes as part of a broader effort to resume and expand federal executions following a moratorium under Biden. That pause significantly reduced the number of inmates on federal death row, with 37 sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

Despite the smaller remaining death row population, the current administration has authorized prosecutors to seek capital punishment in dozens of additional cases, signaling a renewed emphasis on the death penalty at the federal level.

The policy change follows a recent execution in South Carolina, where an inmate was put to death by firing squad—an event that has intensified debate over execution methods and standards.