Biden commutes nearly 1,500 sentences in 'largest single-day grant of clemency'
President Joe Biden speaks in Washington last month. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoning 39 more convicted of nonviolent crimes, the White House said in a statement Thursday, describing it as “the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.”
The individuals whose sentences will be commuted were placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and have “successfully reintegrated” with their families and communities, the White House said in a statement.
The White House added that Biden is still reviewing clemency petitions and that more announcements are to come. Pressure has grown on the outgoing president to exercise his powers before he cedes the White House to President-elect Donald Trump, and opponents of capital punishment have called for Biden to empty federal death row. Trump staunchly supports capital punishment.
Among those who received clemency Thursday are people who would have received a lighter sentence if they were charged under current laws and practice, Biden said in a statement.
“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said.
The decision to grant mass clemency comes after backlash over Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter after he had previously said he would not. Part of the uproar came from criminal justice advocates, as well as fellow Democrats, who expressed frustration that Biden benefited his son alone, instead of broadly using his clemency power for less privileged people.
Anita Dunn, a former senior adviser to the president who left the administration in August, said in a New York Times’ DealBook Summit posted Wednesday that she disagreed with the rollout of the pardon for Biden’s son.
“I absolutely think that Hunter deserves a pardon here, but I disagree on the timing, the argument and sort of the rationale,” she said.
Biden is also said to be weighing preemptive pardons for people who may be targeted by the incoming Trump administration, including Anthony S. Fauci, who helped coordinate the nation’s coronavirus response; retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has called Trump a “fascist”; Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-California), who led the first impeachment effort against Trump; and former congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), an outspoken GOP critic of Trump.
The 39 people pardoned Thursday were convicted of nonviolent crimes, including drug offenses. They “have turned their lives around,” the White House said. “These individuals are parents, veterans, health care professionals, teachers, advocates, and engaged members of their communities.”
In the final days of his second term in 2017, President Barack Obama granted 330 commutations to nonviolent drug offenders—which at the time was the most granted in one day in U.S. history.
Before Thursday’s announcement, Biden had commuted the sentences of over 140 people and granted 26 pardons in office—including most recently to his son Hunter. Biden has also granted pardons for military veterans convicted of having gay sex, once a crime under military law, and people convicted of marijuana possession at the federal level.
Biden’s administration received nearly 12,000 petitions for clemency and more than 1,400 petitions for pardons through early December, according to statistics released by the Justice Department.
Mark Berman, Ann E. Marimow, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser contributed to this report.
