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ayanna pressley
Biden Commutes 1,500 Sentences and Issues 39 Pardons—But Leaves 40 People on Death Row
"State-sanctioned murder is not justice, and President Biden has an opportunity and an obligation to save lives," Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley said earlier this week.
Dec 12, 2024
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 Americans and pardoning 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes, a move the White House described as "the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history."
But the president's sweeping use of his clemency power as his term nears its conclusion did not appear to extend to any of the 40 men currently on death row—some of whom have been there for decades.
According to a White House fact sheet, those who received commutations "have been serving their sentences at home for at least one year under the Covid-era CARES Act," a law that extended the amount of time in which people could be placed in home confinement to reduce the spread of the virus in prisons.
The White House did not name those who received pardons or commutations but said the list includes a "decorated military veteran," a "nurse who has led emergency response for several natural disasters," and "an addiction counselor who volunteers his time to help young people find their purpose."
The Biden Justice Department paused federal executions in 2021, but President-elect Donald Trump pledged on the campaign trail to expand the use of the death penalty and is expected to allow the executions of the 40 men on death row to take place if they're still there when he takes office next month.
In a statement on Thursday, Biden said that he has "the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses."
"That is why, today, I am pardoning 39 people who have shown successful rehabilitation and have shown commitment to making their communities stronger and safer," the president said. "I am also commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who are serving long prison sentences—many of whom would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices. These commutation recipients, who were placed on home confinement during the Covid pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have shown that they deserve a second chance."
Biden, who campaigned on ending the death penalty at the federal level, vowed to "take more steps in the weeks ahead" as his administration reviews clemency petitions, leaving open the possibility of commutations for death row prisoners.
But he's running out of time, human rights organizations, religious leaders, former federal judges, and progressive lawmakers have warned in recent days as they've ramped up pressure on Biden to act.
"State-sanctioned murder is not justice, and President Biden has an opportunity and an obligation to save lives and make good on his campaign promise to address the federal death penalty before leaving office," Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said at a press conference earlier this week. "With the incoming administration planning to execute the 40 individuals on death row, we're calling on the president to use his clemency authority to commute their death sentences and resentence them to a prison term."
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Biden's Hands 'Will Be Bloody' If He Lets Trump Inherit Death Row Cases, Critics Warn
"President Biden came into office committing to abolishing the federal death penalty because of its fundamental flaws. Commuting the federal row is the way he can honor that commitment," said one advocate.
Dec 03, 2024
For weeks, President Joe Biden has faced calls to use his clemency powers to save the lives of federal inmates on death row ahead of a transfer of power to President-elect Donald Trump, who has said he will expand the use of the death penalty.
Biden's inaction on the issue has drawn increased scrutiny following his pardon of his own son, Hunter Biden, clearing the younger Biden of wrongdoing in any federal crimes he committed or may have committed in the last 11 years.
Presidents have broad authority under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution to grant pardons and reprieves for federal crimes. Biden recently pardoned two Thanksgiving turkeys as part of an annual tradition to highlight these constitutional powers, but he has not issued commutations for the 40 incarcerated men on federal death row. (He did, however, order a moratorium on carrying out federal death sentences in 2021).
"If Biden does not act, there is little doubt that Trump will aggressively schedule executions in his next term. Their blood will primarily be on Trump's hands, but, if Biden does not act to prevent it, his hands will be bloody too," wrote Matt Bruenig, president of the People's Policy Project think tank, reacting to the news of Hunter Biden's pardon.
"The death penalty is a morally-bankrupt and inescapably racist institution" —Yasmin Cader, ACLU deputy legal director
The pardoning of Hunter Biden, who was awaiting sentencing in two federal cases, also prompted scrutiny around pardon actions Biden could take that are not just focused on death row.
"This," wrote Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in response to a post on X that contrasted Hunter Biden's pardon with the fact that tens of thousands of people are in federal custody for drug offenses.
In 2020, Biden pledged to work to abolish the federal death penalty but, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, "there has been little evidence of anything done in furtherance of this promise."
Pressure to issue clemency was building prior to the announcement of Hunter Biden's pardon.
On November 20, over 60 members of Congress sent a letter to Biden, encouraging him to use his "clemency powers to help broad classes of people and cases, including the elderly and chronically ill, those on death row, people with unjustified sentencing disparities, and women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers."
During a press conference in November that featured House Democrats and anti-death penalty advocates, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said that "those on death row who are at risk of barbaric and inhumane murder at the hands of the Trump administration can have their death sentence commuted and be resentenced to a prison term," according to Oklahoma Voice.
"We're here today to ask him to take another step in that direction and to demonstrate, once again, a very positive consequence of his having been elected our 46th president, and to carry out his clemency powers in a very positive way," Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said.
Meanwhile, the ACLU has also urged Biden to use the lame duck session to commute federal death sentences—pointing out that Trump has vowed to expand the death penalty, including to non-homicide crimes such as drug-related offenses.
"The death penalty is a morally-bankrupt and inescapably racist institution. President Biden came into office committing to abolishing the federal death penalty because of its fundamental flaws. Commuting the federal row is the way he can honor that commitment, and prevent irreversible miscarriages of justice," said Yasmin Cader, ACLU deputy legal director and the director of the Trone Center for Justice and Equality.
While Biden so far has granted far fewer pardon and commutation petitions compared to former President Barack Obama, according to the Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney, he did in 2022 grant full and unconditional pardons to all U.S. citizens convicted of simple federal marijuana possession—a move that was cheered by advocates.
"President Joe Biden can—and must—act now to finish the death penalty reform work his administration began in 2020," the ACLU said last month. "He must commute the sentences of all people on federal death row to stymie Trump’s plans and to redress the racial injustice inherent to capital punishment."
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'Today, It's All on the Line': Progressives Mobilize Nationwide to Defeat Trump
"The right to an abortion is on the ballot. Healthcare is on the ballot. Social Security and Medicare are on the ballot," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "Our very democracy is on the ballot. Your vote doesn't just affect who becomes president—it affects every aspect of our lives."
Nov 05, 2024
Progressive activists, labor unions, and lawmakers who have organized for months against Republican nominee Donald Trump emphasized the enormous stakes of Tuesday's election for abortion rights, healthcare, the future of Gaza, the climate, and democracy itself as Americans cast their ballots in what's likely to be one of the highest-turnout elections in modern U.S. history.
"Today, it's all on the line," Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said Tuesday morning, urging a vote for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. "We can make history and elect a president committed to making our lives easier and protecting our freedom and humanity. So vote for yourself, for your neighbor, and for our democracy."
"Vote for Kamala Harris like lives depend on it," Pressley added, "because they do."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has also endorsed Harris, similarly emphasized the election's potentially seismic impacts on major aspects of U.S. society, from reproductive freedom to the future of Social Security.
"The right to an abortion is on the ballot," Warren wrote on social media. "Healthcare is on the ballot. Social Security and Medicare are on the ballot. Our very democracy is on the ballot. Your vote doesn't just affect who becomes president—it affects every aspect of our lives. Please vote accordingly."
"All our work in this election has come down to one question, 'Which side are you on?'"
In the weeks leading up to Election Day, progressive organizations and labor unions such as the United Auto Workers and AFL-CIO phone-banked and knocked doors across the country in an effort to defeat Trump, a former president who has threatened to prosecute his political opponents, gut regulations for the benefit of planet-destroying fossil fuel companies, give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu free rein in the Middle East, allow states to implement the most draconian abortion bans, and deliver another round of tax cuts to the rich and large corporations.
The UAW said Tuesday that its members knocked on 250,000 doors in Michigan alone during the final stretch of the 2024 campaign in an effort to defeat the Republican nominee.
"When members hear directly from other members about what’s at stake, we break through and change minds," said UAW president Shawn Fain. "By engaging our members and highlighting the issues that matter—their paychecks, their families, and their futures—our union has been critical to defeating Trump and making sure working-class issues are at the forefront of this election."
"All our work in this election has come down to one question, 'Which side are you on?'" Fain added. "In this election, we made sure our members had the information they needed to cast their vote based on each candidate’s own words and action. For our union, the choice is clear: Harris stands with us and Trump is a scab."
Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party (WFP), wrote in a memo released on the eve of Election Day that his group's members knocked on 1.6 million voters' doors across Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, and other battleground states where Harris and Trump are polling neck-and-neck.
"Working people in this nation cannot afford another Trump presidency," Mitchell wrote, alluding to the Republican nominee's anti-worker policy record. "That's why the WFP ran the biggest national campaign we've ever built to defeat Trump and elect Harris, and we left everything on the field."
Abbas Alawieh, co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, said in an appearance on MSNBC Tuesday that he personally decided to vote for Harris despite his group's decision not to endorse her, pointing to the grave threat Trump poses to Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities.
A message from @AZAlawieh on Election Day. pic.twitter.com/enoJNZ8oCv
— Uncommitted National Movement 🌺 (@uncommittedmvmt) November 5, 2024
"He has never espoused a pro-peace policy," Alawieh said of Trump during Tuesday's interview. "He has been a purveyor of militarized violence against our communities."
"We're under no illusion that there's a president who's going to come in and wave a magic wand and change the policy," added Alawieh, referring to U.S. military support for Israel. "I'm looking at what are the conditions that are going to exist for our anti-war movement after this. Donald Trump intends on making it a lot harder for us to advocate for Palestinian human rights and against war."
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