Garland suspends federal executions and orders review of Trump-era rules POOL/AFP via Getty Images WIN MCNAMEE/AFP/POOL/Getty Images Attorney General Merrick Garland By Christina Carrega, CNN 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.