Reno's Justice Department led the response and prosecution of Timothy McVeigh following the Oklahoma City bombing.
On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people in the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history at that time. As Attorney General, Janet Reno immediately mobilized federal law enforcement resources, including the FBI, to respond to the attack and lead the ensuing investigation.
Reno's Department of Justice secured the swift arrest of Timothy McVeigh, who had been detained shortly after the bombing on unrelated traffic charges, and built the federal case that would lead to his conviction and eventual execution in 2001, along with the prosecution of his co-conspirator Terry Nichols.
Reno made the decision to pursue the death penalty against McVeigh, a significant and closely watched decision given the scale of the atrocity and the national attention on the case. Her leadership during the crisis, including her calm public communications in the tragedy's immediate aftermath, helped restore public confidence in federal law enforcement's ability to respond to domestic terrorism.
The successful prosecution stands as one of the most significant achievements of her tenure, demonstrating the Justice Department's capability to pursue complex, high-stakes terrorism cases while adhering to due process, and it remains a landmark case in the history of American counterterrorism law.