On Monday, the Biden Administration commuted the sentences of nearly every inmate on federal death row in an apparent last-ditch attempt to thwart President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for
President Joe Biden said in a statement he is commuting 37 of 40 federal death sentences to life without the possibility of parole. The statement went on to explain that Biden halted executions on a federal level during his presidency, and approved clemency for 1,500 citizens in a single day.
“I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” he said. “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.”
Monday’s announcement comes weeks after Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, who was convicted of gun charges and pleaded guilty to tax evasion and other tax crimes.
Notably, Dylann Roof remains on federal death row — along with Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Biden declined to commute the sentence of another mass shooter, Robert Bowers, who killed nine people at a Pennsylvania synagogue in 2018.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated Tsarnaev’s death sentence for the 2013 terrorist attack which killed three and injured 260. Tsarnaev and his older brother were on the run when they killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer while trying to steal his gun. Tsarnaev’s brother died in a gunfight with police a day before his capture.
While the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Massachusetts vacated Tsarnaev’s death sentence in 2021, the Trump Administration appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court — who reinstated his death sentence the following year in a 6-3 decision.
Monday’s announcement also comes days after the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland privately reccomended Biden commute all but a few federal death sentences.
Trump has not yet responded to Biden’s statement.
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