President Joe Biden is still under a lot of pressure from progressives to put an end to the federal death penalty. He has claimed at various times to be in favor of that idea, while still allowing his Justice Department to move forward with some pending capital punishment cases. This week we saw the next version of this story unfold when Attorney General Merrick Garland distributed a new memo to the Justice Department announcing that there would be a “pause” in any additional federal death penalty cases until the matter can be studied further. But the memo that Garland issued still leaves plenty of confusion in its wake. The order appears to say that there will be a “pause” in the scheduling and carrying out of any death sentences, but it doesn’t say that the Justice Department won’t seek any sentencing along those lines.

Attorney General Merrick Garland ordered a temporary stop Thursday to scheduling further federal executions.

In a memo to senior officials, he said serious concerns have arisen about the arbitrariness of capital punishment, its disparate impact on people of color, and “the troubling number of exonerations” in death penalty cases.

“The Department of Justice must ensure that everyone in the federal criminal justice system is not only afforded the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States but is also treated fairly and humanly,” he said.

In terms of mixed messages, you won’t find many more mixed than this. Anyone hoping for a declaration that the federal death penalty is being eliminated is probably going to come away disappointed, however. Two different issues are being addressed by Garland. One is the decision under William Barr to approve lethal injections using a single drug rather than the three-drug combination that had previously been in use. Pharmaceutical companies are refusing to sell one of the drugs to penitentiaries for the purpose of lethal injection. That new method was used successfully 13 times between July of 2020 and January of this year.

So if all they’re worried about is whether or not the single-drug method is effective or not, it doesn’t sound like they’re preparing to do away with the death penalty entirely, right? But Garland also spoke of the “arbitrariness of capital punishment” and its “disparate impact on people of color,” That could lead you to believe that they’re thinking of scrapping it entirely.

But if that’s the case, why is Garland’s Justice Department continuing to lobby the Supreme Court to reinstate the death penalty for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev? Garland’s position on that is even more confusing. He’s saying that because the memo “did not address whether the federal government would continue to seek the death penalty in criminal cases,” the pause has “no effect” on their pursuit of the death penalty for Tsarnaev.

So let’s see if we’ve got this straightened out now, shall we? Garland isn’t sure if the current drug used for lethal injections is suitable. But he also thinks the death penalty is applied in an arbitrary and capricious fashion, probably with racist overtones. But we’re going to pursue the death penalty for Tsarnaev anyway. But even if he’s sentenced to death, we might not carry out the execution. Is that about it?

Well, that’s certainly as clear as mud. Thanks, Joe!