President Donald Trump is calling on lawmakers to expand the federal death penalty to include mandatory executions for murdering a police officer.
In his first address to Congress since returning to power, Trump noted his decision to reinstate capital punishment at the federal level.
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“I have already signed an executive order requiring a mandatory death penalty for anybody who murders a police officer. And tonight, I’m asking Congress to pass that policy into permanent law,” Trump said to loud applause.
That order, signed Inauguration Day, also instructed U.S. prosecutors to pursue death sentences for defendants convicted of murder while in the country illegally.
The U.S. Supreme Court has held since the 1970s that mandatory death sentences are unconstitutional because they don’t consider individual factors.
Under current practice, U.S. prosecutors pursue death sentences after a review committee considers requests on a case-by-case basis.
All federal executions are carried out at a federal prison in Terre Haute. It’s where the first Trump administration executed 13 prisoners in 2020 and 2021.
Former President Joe Biden granted clemency to 37 federal death row prisoners before leaving office. Three prisoners remain sentenced to death.
In his speech Tuesday, Trump also called on Congress to increase punishments for repeat offenders and expand protections for police officers.
