'Into vogue': Death penalty cases tick upward under Trump
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This undated Pennsylvania Department of Transportation photo shows Robert Bowers, the suspect in the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018. (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation via AP)
President Donald Trump has called for the death penalty for the man accused of killing 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue, and he says capital punishment should be brought back "into vogue."
Trump has gotten his wish, at least on the federal level, with death penalty cases ticking back up under his Justice Department after a near-moratorium on such prosecutions in President Barack Obama's last term.
Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, has so far approved at least a dozen death penalty prosecutions over the last two years.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But while the Justice Department under Trump has increased death penalty prosecutions, the numbers pale in comparison to that of President George W. Bush's attorney general John Ashcroft, who in 2003 alone signed off on more than three dozen capital prosecutions.