As if his 1,500 pardons weren’t enough to cause outrage, President Biden has gone further. Near the expiration of his failed presidency, Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump has said he wants to expand capital punishment, so this looks like another preemptive strike to thwart the incoming administration. Will Biden also issue “preemptive” pardons to people Trump’s Justice Department might prosecute? It could happen.
Among the individuals receiving commutations, reports the Daily Mail, are convicted murderers Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks, who kidnapped and killed a woman after making a break from prison, Marcivicci Barnette, who killed a man and his ex-girlfriend; and another man, Anthony Battle, who killed a prison guard. Several convicted bank robbers, who killed innocent victims during their crimes, are also getting clemency, including Billie Allen and Norris Holder, Brandon Council and Daryl Lawrence.
Biden issued a ludicrous statement to explain the inexcusable: “I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system.” What? Biden says his only exceptions are for people convicted of terrorist acts and hate crimes. Why the distinction? Those escaping death for their murderous crimes are Dylann Roof, who murdered nine people in 2015 at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 congregants at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2019.
Biden is engaging in selective morality. Why should motives play a role when it comes to murder? By his illogic, a pardon should be given to Luigi Mangione, the accused murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
This is what C.S. Lewis called “the humanitarian view of punishment.” Depriving a murderer of liberty is not a penalty equal to the taking of innocent life. Biden is engaging in what has been called “cafeteria Christianity,” obeying doctrines he agrees with while ignoring others with which he disagrees.