A federal appeals court has cleared the way on Friday for the only woman on federal death row to be executed. A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that a lower court judge had acted illegally when he vacated convicted murderer Lisa Montgomery’s execution date. In an order last week, U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss ruled that the Justice Department had unlawfully rescheduled the woman’s execution. He also vacated an order from the director of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) that had set Montgomery’s execution date for Jan. 12. The appeals court’s order has the effect of reinstating the Jan. 12 execution date. Montgomery’s execution by lethal injection was originally scheduled for Dec. 8, but Moss delayed the execution after Montgomery’s attorneys contracted COVID-19 and asked him to extend the time to file a clemency petition. On Nov. 19, he gave her lawyers …