President Joe Biden issued a record-breaking wave of commutations and pardons on Thursday, the most ever granted by a president in a single day.
In a statement issued by the White House, the administration wrote that Biden is “is commuting the sentences of close to 1,500 individuals who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and who have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities.”
The president will also be pardoning 39 individuals who were convicted of non-violent crimes, including drug offenses. The clemency granted to drug offenders — many of whom were imprisoned on low level marijuana-related offenses — partly answers a plea from Democratic lawmakers for the outgoing president to finalize efforts to limit marijuana prosecutions at the federal level before he leaves office, and grant mercy to those convicted on weed related charges.
“The President is intent on granting clemency to individuals convicted of non-violent crimes who were sentenced under outdated laws, policies, and practices that left them with longer sentences than if the individuals were sentenced today,” the White House wrote. “While today’s announcement marks important progress, there is more to come. President Biden will continue to review clemency petitions and deliver criminal justice reform in a manner that advances equity and justice, promotes public safety, supports rehabilitation and reentry, and provides meaningful second chances.”
This mass clemency action comes on the heels of a controversial decision by Biden to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, despite previously saying he wouldn’t. The younger Biden was convicted on charges of federal tax violations and unlawful gun possession.
BIden argued that the prosecution of his son was politically motivated, and that “no reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong.”
Since the president is feeling merciful, advocates are begging him to use his powers of clemency in a meaningful manner. As previously reported by Rolling Stone, the death penalty-loving Trump is preparing to quickly repeal guidelines pausing federal executions under Biden and revive the “killing spree” — as one source put it — Trump led during his first term.
Advocates and inmates on federal death row are hoping that Biden, who once promised to “work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example,” will commute their death sentences to avoid an execution.