As he faces the end of his one-term presidency, Joe Biden is coming under pressure to issue a mass pardon for death row inmates - before President-elect Donald Trump has the chance to serve justice.
Left-wing groups are calling on Biden to commute the sentences of all 40 federal inmates facing execution, including terrorists like the Boston Bomber, The Daily Caller reported.
President-elect Trump ended his first term with the largest spree of executions in a century, before Biden reversed course and placed a moratorium on the practice in 2021.
There have been far more executions by the states than by the U.S. government, which has carried out just 50 death sentences since 1927.
Known for his "law and order" approach to criminal justice, Trump has proposed adding the death penalty for new categories of criminals including migrants who murder U.S. citizens - and he can be expected to quickly resume executions of death row inmates when he returns to power.
A coalition of left-wing and religious groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, has released a petition urging Biden to grant a mass pardon of those sentenced to death for horrific crimes. Some religious groups joined the call, including the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests, the Catholic Mobilizing Network and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.
“As you are aware, this abhorrent and outdated punishment raises profound concerns, including the arbitrariness of its application, its inherent racial bias, and the alarming rate of innocence among those sentenced to death,” the petition states.
The inmates include Neo-Nazi Dylan Roof, who gunned down black parishioners in Charleston in 2015, and Dhzokar Tsarnaev, who with his brother Tamerlan planted explosives that killed three, including a child, and injured hundreds at the Boston Marathon in 2013.
Despite promising to end the death penalty in 2020, Biden backed away from the campaign pledge during his presidency.
After Trump won re-election with a historic mandate from the people, some argue it would be inappropriate for Biden to extend a dramatic pardon at this stage.
"Joe Biden had four years to enact a mass executive clemency,” Manhattan Institute fellow Charles Fain Lehman told the Daily Caller.
“He did not do it. To do it on his way out would be preposterous. It would be particularly preposterous because it would mean giving executive clemency to people that every right thinking American agrees deserves to be put to death.”
While Biden spent most of his presidency being bullied by progressives, it looks like they aren't finished trying to use his time left in power to pursue a radical agenda.
Will Biden finally put his foot down and go out with some dignity?
