President Joe Biden commutes (almost) all of federal death row

Following weeks of increasing public pressure, Joe Biden has commuted the sentences of all but three federal death row inmates.

The outgoing president announced the move early Monday morning, calling it “consistent” with his previous opposition to the practice. His Attorney General Merrick Garland instituted a moratorium in 2021 on federal executions following a deadly spree in the final months of the first Trump administration.

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” said Biden.

“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 stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

The commutations, which reduce each affected sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole, were long demanded by advocates on the issue, including clergy and politicians. Among their concerns has been that the use of capital punishment in the United States has disproportionately affected African Americans throughout its history.

Biden, who commuted the sentences of all 21 African-American and Latino federal death row inmates—more than half of the total docket—did not mention racial disparities in his statement Monday.

Though he indirectly cited the possibility of president-elect Donald Trump resuming executions under his AG appointee Pam Bondi, Biden limited his commutations to “cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”

Short of eliminating the federal death penalty—as Biden promised during his 2020 presidential campaign—he instead leaves three inmates on federal death row: 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 2015 Mother Emanuel mass shooter Dylann Roof, and 2018 Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue mass shooter Robert Bowers.

Though the Biden administration has been criticized for defending capital punishment in the Tsarnaev case, and for actively pursuing it against 2022 Buffalo mass shooter Payton S. Gendron, advocates are praising the president this week for the new commutations.

“Today’s historic decision by President Biden advances the cause of human dignity and underscores the sacred value of every human life,” said Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN).

“President Biden—our fellow Catholic—chose mercy by commuting the death sentences of 37 men on federal death row.”

CMN was among a cavalcade of Catholics pressuring Biden to clear federal death row, a move he had resisted throughout his presidency. The restorative justice organization and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops ran concurrent letter-writing campaigns on the topic in December, and at least one congressman—U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, a Black Catholic—urged similar action.

It is believed that the president’s final decision was heavily influenced by overtures from the Holy See, where Pope Francis—a staunch death penalty opponent—publicly called for commutations during a public prayer service on Dec. 8.

The pontiff later repeated the request privately to Biden by phone on Dec. 19, emphasizing the opening of the Church's Jubilee Year on Christmas Eve and its calls for displays of mercy and forgiveness.

Anthony D. Romero, a Catholic attorney who serves as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the president's response has “reaffirmed the power of redemption over retribution.”

“President Biden has shown our country—and the rest of the world—that the brutal and inhumane policies of our past do not belong in our future.”

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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