The decision made by former President Joe Biden to commute the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates during the concluding days of his administration has elicited prompt criticism from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is currently exploring options to overturn those commutations.
In a correspondence addressed to the employees of the Department of Justice, Bondi expressed her disapproval of Biden’s actions, asserting that they ‘undermine our justice system and subvert the rule of law.’ She contended that the commutations deprived victims’ families of the justice they had tirelessly pursued and urged the DOJ to take measures to rectify the decision.
In her letter, Bondi delineated three primary actions. Firstly, she mandated the Department of Justice to investigate public forums where families of victims could share their personal responses to the commutations, emphasizing that this was an essential measure for restoring trust and accountability. Secondly, she instructed U.S. attorneys’ offices to explore legal options that would enable states to pursue the death penalty in accordance with state law instead of federal law, contingent upon legal feasibility and after discussions with the victims’ families. Lastly, she directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to guarantee that the 37 commuted inmates are subjected to confinement conditions that correspond to the gravity of their offenses and the associated security risks.
In late December, President Biden announced commutations that altered the sentences of certain inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The White House defended this decision by stating that these executions would not have occurred under the present policies and practices. The administration highlighted Biden’s dedication to reforming the criminal justice system, especially for communities that have been historically marginalized.
Nevertheless, Biden’s clemency did not apply to every inmate on federal death row. Three notorious mass murderers—Dylann Roof, who took the lives of nine individuals at a church in Charleston; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the perpetrator of the Boston Marathon bombing; and Robert Bowers, the shooter accountable for the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue tragedy—continued to face execution.
Bondi is working to overturn the commutations as part of her larger legal challenges against state policies that are at odds with federal law. Recently, the Department of Justice initiated a lawsuit against New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James, and other state officials, alleging that they are unlawfully protecting undocumented immigrants.
