President Biden grants pardon to 37 of 40 federal inmates face the death penalty. Their sentences will be commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The three inmates who were not granted clemency are the convicted murderer of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, the shooter at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston and the surviving Boston Marathon bomber.
This announcement is sure to spark partisan debate, even if the presidential powers of commutation and pardon are extensive, enshrined in the Constitution and irreversible.
The Department of Justice has instituted a moratorium on executions in 2021 so that it can review its policies and procedures.
President-elect Trump has said he will resume executions and possibly try to expand crimes punishable by death.
Mr Biden appeared to hint at Trump’s stated intention in a statement announcing the commutations when he said: “I cannot in good conscience stand back and let a new administration resume the executions I have interrupted”.
He also said: “These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has placed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murders.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, I cry for the victims of their despicable acts, and I suffer for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable losses.
“But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must end the use of the death penalty at the level federal.”
The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Anthony D. Romero, welcomed Mr. Biden’s decision, saying in a statement that he “took a historic and courageous step in addressing the failure of the death penalty in the United States, bringing us closer to banning this barbaric practice. …President Biden has taken the most significant action of any president in our history to address the immoral and unconstitutional harms of capital punishment. … This will undoubtedly be one of the defining achievements of the Biden presidency.
