Ayanna Pressley slams 'far-right majority' Supreme Court for reinstating the Boston Marathon bomber's death penalty: 'State-sanctioned murder is not justice'

The "Squad" member, whose Massachusetts district encompasses most of Boston, is the lead co-sponsor of a bill to end the federal death penalty.

• The Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty for Dzokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers.
• Pressley, a progressive whose district includes most of Boston, slammed the court's decision.
• "State-sanctioned murder is not justice, no matter how heinous the crime," she said.

Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts condemned the Supreme Court's Friday decision to reinstate the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers.

"The Supreme Court's decision today to reinstate the death penalty in the Tsarnaev case is deeply disappointing, but unsurprising for this far-right majority Court that has shown time and again its contempt for the people," Pressley said in a statement following the court's decision. "The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment that has no place in society."

In August 2020, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit threw out Tsarnaev's federal death sentence because of jury selection issues and bias. President Donald Trump's Department of Justice appealed the decision — a move President Joe Biden's administration affirmed — and the Supreme Court ruled 6-3, along conservative-liberal lines, to overturn the appeals court's decision. 

"State-sanctioned murder is not justice, no matter how heinous the crime," said Pressley. "I remain committed to accountability and healing for everyone impacted by the Boston Marathon bombing and I pray for those who are forced to re-live their trauma each time we are reminded of that devastating day."

In 2013, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan planted pipe bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and wounding nearly 200 others. While Tamerlan was later killed during the manhunt that ensued, Dzhokhar was arrested and a federal jury later sentenced him to the death penalty in 2015. 

Pressley, a progressive "Squad" member, was first elected to her a district encompassing roughly three fourths of Boston in 2018. She is the lead House co-sponsor of a bill to end the death penalty at the federal level, while Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is carrying the bill in the Senate.

It's not immediately clear whether Tsarnaev will actually face execution, given Biden's own stated opposition to the death penalty, Attorney General Merrick Garland's current moratorium on federal executions, and Pressley's contention that Biden has personally pledged to her that no federal executions would take place during his presidency.

"President Biden gave me his word that no one would be executed by the federal government under his watch, and I fully expect him to keep that promise," said Pressley.

Pressley also called on Congress to pass her bill to end the federal death penalty while reiterating prior requests that she and other members of Congress have made to the administration.

"I continue to call on President Biden to take executive action to halt federal executions, commute the sentences of those on death row, direct DOJ prosecutors to no longer seek the death penalty, and dismantle the death row facility at Terre Haute," she said, referring to a facility in Indiana that houses federal death row inmates.