My position on the death penalty is no secret. I represented Michael Ross in 1987 and voiced my opposition to the death penalty as an associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court in numerous cases going back to 1995, long before that position became popular. But I am not writing now to voice my opposition to the federal government’s execution of persons on death row, rather to express my disdain for the sense of urgency with which federal executions are being held during this lame-duck period. As was observed by three dissenting justices in State v. Cobb, 234 Conn 735, 783 (1995): “Death is irrevocable. It is the ultimate penalty that society can impose and, once imposed, cannot be reversed.”

There have now been eight federal executions in 18 weeks under President Donald Trump. Orlando Hall was executed Nov. 19, 2020. This was the first federal execution under a lame-duck president in more than a century—since 1889 to be exact—131 years ago under then-President Grover Cleveland. Two more federal executions are currently scheduled: Lisa Montgomery on Dec. 8 and Brandon Bernard on Dec. 10, and more may still come before Jan. 20. If the above-mentioned two are carried out, the 10 federal executions under Trump will be the most in any single year since 1896, when Cleveland’s administration carried out 16 during his second presidency. And the seven executions in the months leading up to the 2020 election is more than the number of executions carried out under any other administration since President Harry S. Truman in 1942.

Joette Katz.