Mirror of Justice

Pres. Biden commutes most federal death sentences

A report on today's announcement is here.  Here's a bit:

“Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole,” Biden announced in a statement released Monday.

Notably, the president did not commute the sentences of three people whose crimes included mass shootings or acts of terrorism: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of two brothers responsible for the deadly Boston Marathon bombing in 2013; Dylann Roof, a White nationalist who massacred nine people at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018.

“These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder,” Biden said, referring to his Justice Department’s halt on federal executions.

I would welcome legislation (federal and / or state) that abandoned capital punishment as a sanction. At the same time, I do not believe that capital punishment violates the Constitution (and so judges should not use creative interpretations to bring about abolition) and I also think it is not consistent with the role of the "executive" to, in a blanket way, effectively nullify legislative and electoral choices. It would have been, in my view, better had Pres. Biden, when he was Vice President Biden, used his influence, and large congressional majorities, and political capital, to work for a legislative repeal.

It also seems to me that the reasons the President gives for commuting most of the federal death sentences apply with equal force to the "high profile" ones he is letting stand. If anything, his decision not to commute in the cases where it would be politically controversial to do so is inconsistent with his (correct) concern that political considerations distort the application of capital punishment.

I hope, though, that this news prompts legislative actions in the states, such as this one in my own state of Indiana.

Hittinger on "The Dignity of Society: Catholic Social Thought and Natural Law"

My copy of Russ Hittinger's new book -- which pulls together and synthesizes a lot of his great writing on the Catholic Social Teaching tradition, natural law, social-ontology, political theology, and more -- just arrived. It looks to be a perfect Christmas gift! Get yours ASAP!

Happy Repeal Day!

On this day, in 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, repealing the 18th, which had provided for the prohibition of the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes[.]" For an excellent book about the Prohibition experiment, its history and context, and its (very interesting) legal and constitutional implications and legacy, check out Daniel Okrent's Last Call.

One of the (many) not-done things on my list of "things I'd like to do as a law professor" is a seminar-course, based on Okrent's book, about Prohibition (broadly understood), including its connection to immigration, anti-Catholicism, the rise of federal criminal law, census and districting shenanigans, legal moralism, etc.  Someday . . .