(The Hill) -- State lawmakers have taken up President Donald Trump’s aggressive push to expand the use of the death penalty, setting up legislative and legal battles that could make a wider range of crimes subject to capital punishment.

In September alone, 15 states sought the federal government’s support in their quest to increase the death penalty’s scope outside the Supreme Court. State legislators have also introduced bills challenging the Court’s precedent, eager to expand executions to crimes for which the GOP has long sought harsher punishments.

Democrats and legal experts say some of these efforts are unconstitutional. But Republicans are hopeful the conservative Supreme Court will take their side.

“The Supreme Court has previously said that giving the death penalty to child tra

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