Trump bypasses rules to rush Nidal Hasan to a firing squad

By Adele Rutherford · Reporting from Atlanta · October 8, 2026

By ignoring established military procedures to execute Nidal Hasan, the Trump administration undermines the rule of law and creates a dangerous precedent for future executives.

Procedure is the cage that keeps our power honest

Capital punishment—the legally authorized execution of a condemned individual—has long been a slow and stubborn thing. NPR reported that Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced that President Trump approved the execution of Nidal Hasan. The former U.S. Army psychiatrist will face a firing squad. The military has not executed anyone since 1961, when Private John Bennett was hanged. The last military firing squad execution was when Private Eddie Slovik was shot for desertion in France. Secretary of the Army Adam Telle released an order scheduling the execution for December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas.

This speed is not how military justice was built to run. Nidal Hasan killed 13 people during a shooting rampage at the Fort Hood processing center. He shouted "Allahu akbar" as he opened fire. During his court-martial—a military tribunal established to try service members accused of violating military law—Hasan acted as his own lawyer. He admitted to the murders. His death sentence survived appeals, as documented in the record of the military courts. The Supreme Court denied his final petition in 2025.

The administration’s rush to force this through relies on a recent administrative shift. Army regulations were changed to make the method of execution a matter of presidential discretion. Yale Law School teacher Eugene Fidell noted that the regulation now places this choice with the president. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the execution. He stated that he was "100 percent committed to ensuring the death penalty is carried out for Nidal Hasan."

The shortcut taken today is the tool handed to your opponents tomorrow

When you bypass traditional protocols because you despise the prisoner, you construct a dangerous mechanism. That mechanism will one day be operated by people whose politics you cannot abide. The administration is leaning on this newly minted executive authority. They want to avoid the administrative gridlock that has kept Ronald Gray on military death row since 2008. But shortcutting the process invites judicial friction. ABC News reported that John Galligan called the haste horrific. Galligan is a retired colonel and former military judge who represented Hasan in civil matters. He noted the disregard for Hasan's medical needs. Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by civilian security officers. He utilizes a wheelchair. Galligan also alleged that the Army failed to follow its own regulations. These regulations require the facility's commandant to notify the prisoner in the presence of a chaplain and counsel.

This administrative urgency runs straight into established statutory rights. Robin Maher of the Death Penalty Information Center observed that presidential approval brings the sentence closer to reality. But it does not make the execution imminent. Hasan is constitutionally entitled to pursue appellate review of his death sentence in civilian federal courts. He can file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus—the procedural mechanism used to challenge the lawfulness of confinement. As Eugene Fidell pointed out to ABC News and CBC News, that litigation can last years. It might outlast the current administration.

The parallels to Federal executions under Donald Trump are exact. That matter, United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, Waltine Nauta, and Carlos De Oliveira, was a federal criminal case. The grand jury brought 40 felony counts against Trump. These counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents after his first presidency. He pleaded not guilty. The Department of Justice made firing squads available for federal executions this year following a directive from President Trump. This mirrors the shift at the state level where South Carolina and Utah have reinstated the firing squad. Fordham Law School professor Deborah Denno noted that while firing squads are among the earliest forms of execution, they remain controversial. People associate them with extreme barbarity and the Wild West.

A legal system that ignores its own rules is simply an exercise in raw will

We have four people currently on military death row. All are incarcerated at the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The military justice system went out of the business of execution for decades. This is because procedure matters more than the particular depravity of the man in the dock. When the executive branch reaches past institutional norms, it treats law as an instrument of immediate gratification. It schedules an execution within the mandatory window of 60 to 150 days after approval. This is not a durable restraint.

The strongest opposing case argues that delay is the true enemy of justice. It argues that a mass murderer who admitted to his crimes in open court should not spend decades consuming public resources. That argument has emotional force, particularly given the magnitude of the tragedy at Fort Hood. But the rule of law is defined precisely by how it treats the worst among us. This is especially true when the temptation to cut corners is highest. If the Army can bypass notice regulations and rush a disabled inmate to a firing squad, we no longer have a system governed by uniform code. We have rule by directive. Directives change the moment a new tenant moves into the White House.

Nidal Hasan deserves every lawful punishment for his crimes. But he must be executed through a process that survives the day the other side holds the keys to the Pentagon.

Trump bypasses rules to rush Nidal Hasan to a firing squad

Procedure is the cage that keeps our power honest

The shortcut taken today is the tool handed to your opponents tomorrow

A legal system that ignores its own rules is simply an exercise in raw will

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