The president just made a massive defensive move against Trump. It’s telling what he didn’t do.

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The mystery surrounding Joe Biden’s views on the death penalty has finally been solved. His decision to pardon 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows how deeply he opposes the death penalty. And his decision to hand over three of America’s most notorious murderers to a future administration for execution shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment.

The three men left out of Biden’s mass pardon — Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Robert Bowers — would undoubtedly test anyone’s resolve to abolish the death penalty. Biden failed this test.

In a statement announcing his clemency decision, the president said: “I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.” I cannot in good conscience allow a new administration to do so will resume the executions that were stopped.”

But Biden can’t stop the use of the federal death penalty by leaving Roof, Tsarnaev and Bowers behind. He cannot stop the Trump administration or its successors from resuming executions by refusing to commute their sentences.

However, we should recognize that it is never easy for a political leader to spare the life of someone who murdered an innocent victim. That’s why presidents so rarely do it. In the past 25 years, only three other federal death row inmates have been granted clemency.

On January 20, 2001, his last day in office, President Bill Clinton commuted the death sentence of David Chandler. He did this after the key witness against him “retracted his statement and admitted that he had committed the murder himself.”

In 2017, Barack Obama granted clemency to Abelardo Arboleda Ortiz and Dwight Loving. In the Ortiz case, Obama granted clemency “on the grounds that Ortiz was mentally incapacitated, that his right to consular notification under the Vienna Convention had been violated… and that he had been denied the effective assistance of counsel at trial.” Like Ortiz, Loving was pardoned , because he too had received ineffective support from his litigator. But also because of “racial and gender bias in the selection of members of his court-martial.”

What Biden has done for 37 people on federal death row is significant in itself. And as the Washington Post notes, “Biden’s decision to intervene in even one death penalty case marks a remarkable turnaround for him on the issue.”

Leading opponents of the death penalty were quick and effusive in praising the president for this about-face. For example, Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said: “President Biden has taken a historic and bold step in addressing the failed death penalty in the United States – bringing us a major step closer to once again outlawing this barbaric practice.” By commuting the sentences of 37 people on death row, President Biden has taken the most consequential step of any president in our history to address the immoral and unconstitutional harm of the death penalty.”

But Romero said nothing about Roof, Tsarnaev and Bowers.

Neither does Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and one of America’s leading abolitionists. Stevenson praised Biden for “recognizing that we don’t have to kill people to show that killing is wrong, that we can and should reduce violence in our communities by refusing to allow more violence and killing in our courts.” and prisons.”

Martin Luther King III also praised Biden for taking “meaningful and lasting action not only to recognize the racist roots of the death penalty but also to eliminate its persistent injustice.” He also remained silent about the fate of the three people who remained excluded from Biden’s mercy.

From a tactical perspective, such silence is not surprising. Commuting the death sentences of Roof, Tsarnaev and Bowers would have sparked a firestorm of protest.

And in the long run, associating her with three of America’s most heinous murderers might have hurt the anti-death penalty campaign. Taking on such cases, as I have previously warned, may also have diverted attention from the damage that the death penalty is doing to our democracy and our culture.

But can one really be against state killings and not speak out against the execution of people whom law professor Robert Blecker calls “the worst of the worst”? Apparently Biden thinks so.

Since Biden became president, many have tried to discern his true views and the importance of his administration’s approach to capital cases. As a candidate in 2020, Biden promised to “work to pass legislation abolishing the death penalty at the federal level and create incentives for states to follow the federal government’s lead.”

Today he did more. But in my opinion not enough

The White House made clear that Biden “believes that America must stop the use of the federal death penalty, except in cases of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”

“Except.” We should have known that there was an “exception” in Biden’s opposition to the death penalty because of the actions the Justice Department took to defend the convictions and sentences of Roof and Tsarnaev and to pursue the prosecution of Bowers.

Abolitionists have made great strides in changing the state of capital punishment in this country by focusing on issues such as wrongful convictions, racial disparities in death sentences, and botched executions. But they will never get this country to abolish the death penalty if they join Biden and make exceptions, especially for those others would consider most deserving of death.

The President of all people should understand this. His Catholic faith should have taught him.

Last week, Biden spoke with Pope Francis about many things, including the decision he faced about whether to commute the sentences of people on federal death row.

Although we cannot know exactly what the two leaders said, the Pope’s position was completely clear in Vatican News. The pope, it said, “has described the death penalty as an act that ‘contradicts the Christian faith’ and ‘destroys any hope of forgiveness and rehabilitation.'”

On December 8, the day before he spoke to Biden, “the Holy Father called on the faithful to pray for the prisoners on death row in the United States.”… “Let us pray,” he said, “that their judgment may be converted and changed.” Let us remember our brothers and sisters and ask the Lord for the grace to save them from death.” ”

The Pope recognized no exceptions. And neither should Biden be.

Sooner or later, opponents of the death penalty must take on the task of convincing the American people that incomplete abolition is no abolition at all – and that even perpetrators of the most horrific crimes like Roof, Tsarnaev and Bowers should not be executed.

Biden had the chance to take a significant step in this direction. It’s a pity he wasted It.

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