The decision of President Joe Biden to clear the federal death row has caused an uproar in some quarters and praise in others. There are good-faith arguments on both sides. However, there was a curious element to the Biden pardons for 37 people on death row. There were 40 people on death row. Three remain.
In making the announcement, President Biden declared that he had sympathy for the families of the victims:
“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.”
It was an odd statement because, for most of his career, Biden was an advocate of capital punishment. Indeed, in 1991, when Biden was still positioning himself for a run for the presidency, he condemned President George HW Bush’s Justice Department for being soft on crime and not sending enough people to death row: “He’s only four times a year put someone in prison for life and only once gotten the death penalty.”
Previously, Biden showed the same fervor in demanding the death penalty. In 1992, he bragged that his sponsored crime bill included new death penalty offenses and did “everything but hang people for jaywalking.”
Of course, Biden can claim that he has finally seen the light at the very end of his political career. Yet, his sweeping declaration does not match up with the scope of his commutations.
It will not stop the death penalty or prevent the executions on death row. Three remained: Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers.
It was vintage Biden: a sweeping claim of principles that ignores the exceptions. He is opposed to the death penalty and wants to stop it entirely, except for three of the most unpopular people scheduled for execution.
For the families, the distinction is a precious one. It includes
•Brandon Council who murdered two in a bank robbery.
• Edward Leon Fields, Jr. who stalked and killed an older couple camping in the Winding Stair Mountains in Oklahoma like game.
• Len Davis, a former New Orleans police officer, who killed a woman who filed a civil rights complaint against him. Davis was known as the “Desire Terrorist” who led a criminal gang that protected criminals and locked up innocent people.
• Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks who were sentenced to death after escaping from prison and kidnapping and killing 44-year-old Alice Donovan and 19-year-old Samantha Burns. Donovan was raped and Burns was never found.
• Marvin Charles Gabrion II who sexually assaulted and murdered Rachel Timmerman before the nineteen-year-old was scheduled to testify against him. She disappeared with her eleven-month-old baby, Shannon, who was also presumably murdered by Gabrion who threw Timmerman’s body into a lake.
• Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez Jr. who killed a family of four, including two children aged four and three in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 2006.
The point is not that Biden’s current stance against the death penalty is manifestly wrong. Rather, these cases are also considered horrific. The question is the principled line of separation for Biden who stated a desire to end all executions but then exempted some death row inmates from his sweeping commutations.
It is classic Biden. Sweeping in its claim, but conflicted and qualified in its application. He wants to end executions except for a select few without explaining the principled basis for the distinction. Even in the final days of his presidency and political career, principle still seems awkward and incomplete for Biden.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
If by ‘Biden’, you mean colloquially the Biden ‘administration’, then yes. This is the green blob cabal behind the scenes doing everything they can to destroy on their way out; I’d be amazed if *Joe* Biden was even aware of the details.
Most corrupt government this country has ever had, hands down, and still weeks to go. 😐 The tone deafness on the part of the modern left is itself, deafening. May it serve them even more poorly at the midterms.
Using the word “vintage” to describe actions by Joe Biden sounds about right … i.e., “vintage” as used to describe something that has typical qualities or characteristics of things made or done by a particular person, organization, etc., e.g., vintage Elvis Presley songs and vintage Van Gogh paintings. However in this case the interpretation is vintage as being typical and generally of poor quality and little value.
True. .. Vintage Biden is nothing like vintage Elvis or vintage Van Gogh.
*good catch.
Who are Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers? Not telling the reader who they are pretty much wrecks the whole blog post.
* 1 targetted Jewish synagogue killed 14, another bombed Boston marathon and the other some mass murder target. The link appears to be–>mass.
Joe Biden ripped the hearts out of all the families of the victims of these murderous monsters by commuting their death sentences and he did it only to do some little twisted attack on Trump. He even states in his incoherent statement that he doesn’t want to allow Trump to be in office when these monsters would be executed.
Trump didn’t arrest these guys, Trump or his DOJ didn’t prosecute these guys, Trump didn’t sit on any jury convicting these guys and Trump wasn’t the presiding judge during the trials of any of these guys, but now JOE BIDEN has decided that the officers and detectives, the prosecutors, the juries, the judges and most importantly the families will be ignored so he can try to somehow stick it to Trump.
Joe Biden is an evil little man and the people behind him are America hating leftists. In the last 4 years Joe Biden has turned left on every issue, every damn issue.
Jonathan: The death penalty has been around for 4,000 years. Burning at the stake, the guillotine, firing squads and hanging were all used. In the US we now use a deadly combination of drugs–which sometimes ends in a botched execution.
Among western democracies the US is the only one that still has the death penalty. Our neighbor to the north abolished the death penalty in 1976. That’s because the death penalty is not a deterrent, many on death row have later been proven innocent and the death penalty has frequently been used against marginalized communities. Mexico abolished it in 2005 calling it “a violation of human rights and a cruel and inhuman punishment”.
In a civilized society the death penalty has no place. That’s because vengeance does not solve the problem of deadly violence. Joe Biden should have commuted the sentences of ALL those on death row.
Are you claiming that Japan is uncivilised? Really?
* yeah, but in the words of the wise Latina sotomayor–> it’s like aspirin. There’s always some side effect. Sure, a few innocents will die but look at the relief for millions.
Presumably the death penalty is used in case of possible escape. It’s a sure thing. The hidden penalty is they arrive in hell sooner and continue their reign of terror. People used to know that.
Then there’s the recent lighter fluid man igniting a woman andcwatching, huh? Real sweetheart.
** the Haymaker–> life in prison is so much better than Hell.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, obviously a distention less principled, in fact wholly political, since as we all know many still hold Obama responsible for the Boston bombing.
What exactly is “justice”? Where does it lie on the evolutionary spectrum? And where is the justice in today’s criminal justice system? Add that prisons, “incarnation,” are actually the product of our tolerance, introduced when? About the early 1800s by Pennsylvania Friends. The death penalty, corporal punishment, fines and restitution – we don’t need no stinkin’ jails! If it was good enough for our MA Bay ancestors it’s good enough for us. And it would very rapidly cure criminal activity, our most heinous societal ill.
“principle still seems awkward and incomplete for Biden.” For all democrat progs…fixed that for you. Their underlying creed is the ends justify the means and there is no other explanation needed. Biden was attempting to burnish his legacy but he failed as miserably at that as he did in his pernicious attacks on Clarence Thomas and all the rest of his miserable, slimy career as a first class corrupt, grifter.
Following Biden in search of an inconsistency is like following a burning fuse in search of an explosion; one never has to wait very long.
If the American criminal Justice system had a 100% accuracy rate then the death penalty might be justified.
The opposite is true, we have one of the worst systems of justice. When mistakes are made there is no opportunity to reverse bad convictions.
In the early 2000’s we even blacklisted about 1 million persons worldwide with no legitimate links to terrorism. These people that survived are still being harmed more than 20 years later. Probably more added after the January 6 insurrection attempt (mostly Republicans).
None of the 1 million persons harmed and destroyed by AG Ashcroft’s foreign justice system have been made whole or even received an official apology from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Our justice system is even worse in the 21st Century. In such a broken justice system, we should abolish the death penalty altogether.
Cite me all the examples of a perfect justice system that would meet your standard to allow capital punishment. (Bet there aren’t any so the mask is off your argument). No human institution is perfect but ours is the most circumspect.
Trump supporters were likely added to AG Ashcroft’s foreign style blacklisting system – which results in premature death. A shadow death penalty without charge, without trial, without jury and without guilty verdict.
The DOJ and DHS use our federal tax dollars to fund “Fusion Centers” located in every state to blacklist perfectly innocent citizens – including innocent Republicans.
Conservatives also claim to support Jesus this Christmas week. Why would anyone support a death penalty with our broken justice system?
Okay so no cited examples of systems better than ours.
Abort capital punishment for reason of prosecutorial indiscretion. Abort Capitol punishment for reason of probable cause and due process. Abort reproductive rites for reason of homicide laws and Loving.
“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.” THIS STATEMENT is very confusing since President Trump’s decision about the Federal death penalty is not affected by what Biden says or does. Biden is not ending the death penalty at the Federal level; he is only commuting the death sentences of these convicted criminals. Am I missing something??
I’ve heard Biden is certifiable now (if anyone bothered to certify,). .. Crazy as a bed bug.
*you may, or may not, be missing that.
I wonder why Michael Shanahan of Kids for Cash fame got pardoned? Does it have anything to do with Shanahan knowing about the crooked voting stuff in Pennsylvania???
I recall Election Judge Domeneck DeMuro, and his conviction –
“Demuro fraudulently stuffed the ballot box by literally standing in a voting booth and voting over and over, as fast as he could, while he thought the coast was clear. This is utterly reprehensible conduct. The charges announced today do not erase what he did, but they do ensure that he is held to account for those actions,” said U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. If even one vote is fraudulently rung up, the integrity of that election is compromised. I want the public to know that this investigation is active and ongoing, and my Office is taking every possible step that we can to ensure the integrity of the upcoming primary and general elections in the nine counties of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.”
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-philadelphia-judge-elections-convicted-conspiring-violate-civil-rights-and-bribery
There’s big money in that ‘for-profit’ prison racket.
There’s one hell of a lot more money to be made in:
1. Crime
2. The slip and fall defense lawyer biz.
Just a continuation of the Biden legacy as the worst president of all time. Jimmy Carter must be happy to give up the honor. At least Carter didn’t intentionally try to hurt the country, he was just incompetent. Hate to think of what else Biden has up his sleeve for pardons and commutations.
nothing curious….Democrats hate America and the worse they make it…the more government and funding they get.
They basically HATE America and the West!
Suddenly, Biden’s core supporters are death row inmates. His other followers are gradually abandoning his sinking ship. That is the only group not concerned with his mental deterioration and bizarre policies. That is, except for Gigi, Dennis, and George Svelaz.
Biden is granting pre-emptive pardons like there’s no tomorrow. 37 Death row inmates is a drop in the pardon bucket of Biden supporters .. . or those still hoping for one.
*it’s Christmas, but I’m in a generous mood and willing to grant you a boon .. . how’s it going in the Holy Lands S. Meyer?
“Biden is granting pre-emptive pardons like there’s no tomorrow. 37 Death row inmates is a drop in the pardon bucket of Biden supporters .. . or those still hoping for one.
Are you trying to join the Gigi, Dennis, and George Svelaz group? Perhaps not. Take note: Biden’s core support is dwindling.
*it’s Christmas, but I’m in a generous mood and willing to grant you a boon .. . how’s it going in the Holy Lands S. Meyer?”
Peace is coming. All people are safer, and many feel relieved, but much work still has to be done. Terrorism needs to stop, and that means Iran must be forced to disengage from their terrorist activities including those extending to the Western hemisphere. Iran’s nuclear intentions need to halt with force if necessary. Many different peoples are happy with the events, and that includes Muslims, Christians, Jews, Druze, Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, and atheists. No people should be subjected to terrorism, where terrorists kill women and children while hiding behind their own.
The powers need to meddle less in internal politics, but all join together against terrorists.
Finally, we were reminded that while we thought anti-Semitism was disappearing, it was there all along, especially in the most despotic nations and ignorant people.
“Joe Biden” is a myth.
“Joe Biden” is a nightmare!
Edwardmahl,
The question is what tell all books, bombshell interviews will come out dispelling the myth Biden was “sharp as a tack!” Can the Biden’s force everyone to sign NDAs by Jan 20th? What will be the response by Democrats and MSM? Or will they use Biden as the scapegoat and throw him under the bus?
“Yet, his sweeping declaration does not match up with the scope of his commutations.”…
Biden is given too much credit. The credit for all Biden’s questionable decisions belongs to whomever is pulling his strings. For Peter sake, his primary focus about now is on if he wants one or two scopes of chocolate chip ice cream.
Republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson – a self proclaimed Christian – should be on the same side as Biden since the Christian faith strongly opposes the death penalty.
Many Conservatives also view the United States as a Christian nation, so most conservatives apparently oppose the death penalty as well. It shouldn’t be a political issue.
Not sure if the “Christian faith strongly opposes the death penalty” but the Bible has no such trepidation: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (Genesis 9:6 KJV). Oh, who to believe? The categorical original source or the trendy interpretation?
Now do abortion.
Now do abortion.
*************************
Not as categorical as murder but similarly proscribed. The issue seems to be quickening versus nonquickening.
Republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson – a self proclaimed Christian – should be on the same side as Biden since the Christian faith strongly opposes the death penalty.
That’s a lie. Must by an Anonymous Joe Biden style Catholic. Same ones who celebrate devout Catholics like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi fighting for elective birth control abortions being allowed right up to the moment the umbilical cord is cut.
Old Airborne Dog
It’s not a mystery why Biden didn’t pardon those particular three criminals. Given their victims, Biden would have upset two of the Democratic party’s most fervent supporters: blacks and Jews. As usual, it was pure identity politics that moved Biden’s hand. Unless the party gets past its tribal tactics and policies, it will continue to lose support because its “acceptable” identities are getting fewer and fewer.
Democrats don’t care who they hurt
“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.”
***********************
Thanks for the sympathy for those deserving of none , Mr. Magoo, as JT briefly outlined above. His contempt for us all is no better illustrated in this most recent outrage by a politically wounded animal. Even with his addled brain he’d do well to remember the words of Adam Smith in his greatest work (imho), “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”, best sumamrized as “Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the rest of us (not “the innocent” as in said common parlance),” but all his words bear repeating about why many feel this way and its true implication:
“Such is the account commonly given of our approbation of the punishment of injustice. And so far this account is un|doubtedly true that we frequently have occasion to confirm our natural sense of the propriety and fitness of punishment by re|flecting how necessary it is for preserving the order of society. When the guilty is about to suffer that just retaliation, which the natural indignation of mankind tells them is due to his crimes; when the inso|lence of his injustice is broken and humbled by the terror of his approaching pu|nishment; when he ceases to be an object of fear, with the generous and humane he begins to be an object of pity. The thought of what he is about to suffer extinguishes their resentment for the sufferings of others to which he has given occasion. They are disposed to pardon and forgive him, and to save him from that punishment which in all their cool hours they had considered as the retribution due to such crimes. Here, therefore, they have occasion to call to their assistance the consideration of the general interest of society. They counterbalance the impulse of this weak and par|tial humanity, by the dictates of a hu|manity that is more generous and com|prehensive. They reflect that mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent, and oppose to the emotions of compassion which they feel for a particular person, a more enlarged compassion, which they feel for mankind.”
~Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759).
Biden’s Quote “…“But … halted.” …”
He did not write it, In fact he didn’t even know that “he” wrote it until after it was released. He might not know it yet.
The piece is a gaslight production to make One believe Biden actually has a ‘Conscience’ (He doesn’t), and to underwrite his move to Pardon his son Hunter.
And to foreshadow the mass pardons ‘he will have purportedly written’ soon to come for the Democratic Swamp as he leaves office.
No way Jose – He didn’t do it. The Handlers we have had for “President” over the past 4 years have.
BIDEN – A charade played to the end.
Wait until Jim Biden, Hallie Biden, Jill Biden, and the other family members get their pardons. Those will be announced on the morning of 1/20/25.
Professor Turley, could these mass pardons be overridden by proving that the grantor was not of sound mind?
That is a question for the SCOTUS and should be sent to them soon.
Nope