Nearly two dozen former federal judges have joined a mounting chorus urging President Joe Biden to commute federal death sentences before leaving office. The judges have expressed concern over “fundamental problems” within the federal death penalty system, citing issues such as racial discrimination in trials and sentencing, and the intellectual disabilities of some defendants, as reported by Bloomberg Law.
This initiative comes amidst heightened urgency voiced by various groups concerned about the possibility of Donald Trump resuming federal executions if he were to assume the presidency on January 20. Trump’s administration famously resumed federal executions after a 17-year hiatus, carrying out 13 executions in the latter part of his term, further intensifying the call for President Biden to take definitive action on this issue. Noteworthy is the absence of any explicit reference to Trump’s record in the ex-judges’ letter to Biden, although for many, the historical context remains implicit.
This push by the retired jurists adds significant weight to an already impassioned appeal from advocacy groups and some Democratic lawmakers, urging a pivot in the federal stance on capital punishment. Such a move would align with Biden’s campaign pledge, which emphasized the need to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level. Whether the President will act on this growing appeal remains to be seen, yet the involvement of retired judges in this context underscores the complexity and urgency surrounding the policy debate over capital punishment in the United States.