Biden Must Use Final Months in Office to Commute Federal Death Sentences
President-elect Donald Trump has chilling plans to use his second term to expand the federal death penalty. This expansion continues the killing spree he initiated in the final six months of his first presidency when Trump oversaw more executions than any president in the past 120 years. His plans for a second term include sentencing more people to die, expanding the category of crimes punishable by death, and killing all 40 people currently on federal death row.
Tell President Biden to Commute the Row | American Civil Liberties Union
Tell President Biden to Commute the Row | American Civil Liberties Union
President Joe Biden can — and must — act now to finish the death penalty reform work his administration began in 2020. He must commute the sentences of all people on federal death row to stymie Trump’s plans and to redress the racial injustice inherent to capital punishment.
The Facts
The ACLU has long fought for an end to the death penalty. We know that its cruel practices are out of step with the fundamental values of our democratic system. Trump’s return to the White House, and his unprecedented, extreme, and inhumane stance on capital punishment, only threaten to make an already cruel system more dangerous.
Already, Trump has called to unconstitutionally expand the death penalty to include non-homicide crimes, such as drug-related offenses. He has also reportedly called for the death penalty as punishment for those who leak information against him in the press or undermine him politically. He has suggested bringing back firing squads, the guillotine, and hangings by noose – a symbol and tool of our country’s sordid legacy of lynching and racial terror.
Trump’s promise to expand the death penalty magnifies the systemic inequities that already plague our capital punishment system. The federal death penalty, like state capital punishment systems, is error prone, racially-biased, and a drain on public resources. More than half of those under federal death sentence in 2024 are people of color, some of whom were convicted by all-white juries. People with serious mental illnesses, intellectual disabilities, brain damage, and histories of trauma are also overrepresented on death rows across the country, including the federal row. Additionally, as long as the death penalty exists, we risk executing innocent people, as evidenced by the 200 people who have been sentenced to death and exonerated since 1973.
In 2020, Biden made history as the first president to openly oppose the death penalty. Under his leadership, the Department of Justice (DOJ) acknowledged the death penalty’s disparate impact on people of color as well as the staggering number of people who have been sentenced to death and, subsequently, exonerated over the past five decades. Though Biden stopped short of acting on his promise to secure an end to capital punishment, he can still save lives and help build a legacy rooted in racial justice by commuting all federal death sentences to life in prison.
Why It Matters
Studies show that the death penalty does not keep our communities safer. In fact, research has consistently shown that the death penalty does not deter homicides and that in states that homicides are lower in states that do not have the death penalty.
Trump has consistently ignored these facts. Instead, during his last term, he went on a killing spree and rapidly executed 13 men in quick succession without regard for serious miscarriages of justice. Of the 13 people Trump executed in his last term, two were Black men sentenced as teenagers, one was a woman with mental illness who had survived a lifetime of horrific sexual abuse and torture, another was a man with intellectual disabilities, and there was also a 67-year-old man whose Alzheimer’s disease left him unaware of the reason he was sentenced to die. A majority of the 13 executed were people of color, including seven Black men and one Native American man.
These executions, particularly of people with mental illness and intellectual disability, demonstrate that no amount of procedure eliminates the fundamental flaws of the death penalty.
Our Roadmap
The ACLU is calling on President Biden to commute the sentences of all people on federal death row before he leaves office. Commuting federal death sentences will redress the legacy of racial bias inherent to capital punishment and make Trump’s brutal plans for another killing spree impossible. If Biden does this he’ll not only take away Trump’s power to oversee another execution, but he’ll also help set the U.S. on a different course. By setting an example of empathy and a willingness to root out injustice, he can pave the way for future administrations to build on his legacy and finally end capital punishment.
Our work is not confined to federal commutation efforts. The Eighth Amendment forbids cruel and usual punishment, including Trump’s proposals to expand the application of the death penalty to non-homicide crimes like drug trafficking and to use methods like hanging or the guillotine. The ACLUis ready on day one to challenge inhumane death penalty expansion efforts and any attempts to return to regressive killing methods.
At the state-level, the ACLU will build on our ongoing work against the death penalty. We’ll continue our litigation in states like Kansas and North Carolina under laws that are more protective than the U.S. Constitution — like state racial justice acts and constitutions — to invalidate the death penalty based on its racist administration, including in the selection of jury members.
What Our Experts Say
“The death penalty is a morally-bankrupt and inescapably racist institution. President Biden came into office committing to abolishing the federal death penalty because of its fundamental flaws. Commuting the federal row is the way he can honor that commitment, and prevent irreversible miscarriages of justice.” — Yasmin Cader, ACLU deputy legal director and the director of the Trone Center for Justice and Equality.”
What You Can Do Today
President Biden can commute all federal death sentences before his time as president ends, saving lives, preventing an irreversible miscarriage of justice, and building a legacy rooted in racial justice and compassion. Urge him to do so today.
Learn More About the Issues on This Page
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PodcastDec 2024
Capital Punishment
Can Commuting the Row Be Biden's Real Legacy? Herman Lindsey and Cassy Stubbs Discuss With W. Kamau BellCan Commuting the Row Be Biden's Real Legacy? Herman Lindsey and Cassy Stubbs Discuss With W. Kamau Bell
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
Capital Punishment
Over 130 Civil and Human Rights Organizations Call on President Biden to Commute Federal Death SentencesOver 130 Civil and Human Rights Organizations Call on President Biden to Commute Federal Death Sentences
WASHINGTON – More than 130 civil and human rights organizations, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International USA, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, issued a letter to President Biden today, urging him to commute the sentences of people on federal death row before he leaves office. The letter highlights the moral and legal failings of the death penalty in the United States and stresses the urgency of action to prevent the potential resurgence of federal executions under an incoming Trump administration. The groups call on Biden to fulfill his campaign promise to address the irrevocably broken federal death penalty and to “bring America into a new era of moral leadership.” President Biden was the first presidential candidate to openly oppose the death penalty, and his administration issued a moratorium on federal executions. With 40 men still on death row, however, the letter emphasizes that commuting federal death sentences is the only irreversible action President Biden can take to prevent the incoming administration from attempting another execution spree. "President Biden has an opportunity to make history by addressing the racist and unjust federal death penalty system and keep an early campaign promise he made to the American people,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU. “Commuting the sentences of those on death row would help end the death penalty once and for all and prevent a second execution spree by President Trump. Trump’s first act of political theater ended in the execution of 13 people. President Biden shouldn’t allow Trump to repeat that travesty." In Trump’s final months in office, his administration executed 13 people in rapid succession, more than any administration in over 120 years. The Trump administration also amended the federal execution protocol which opened the door to more brutal methods of execution, including death by firing squad, electrocution, and nitrogen hypoxia, an untested and torturous method. Below are additional comments from: Paul O’Brien, executive director, Amnesty International USA: “President-elect Trump has promised to restart and accelerate the federal death machine, just as he did in his last administration. In the span of only 6 months, the Trump administration executed more people than the 10 previous presidential administrations combined. The executions carried out in his first term demonstrated to the world how the federal death penalty is fundamentally broken and that this ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment should be abolished forever. We should take Trump at his word when he says he plans to repeat this horrific killing spree, and Biden must do what he can now to prevent it.” Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel, Legal Defense Fund: “Since our founding, LDF has been unwavering in its fight to abolish the death penalty and eliminate racial discrimination from our criminal legal system. The death penalty is rooted in slavery, lynchings, and white vigilantism and historically weaponized against people of color. From the Groveland Four in 1949 to many capital cases today, Black people are disproportionately impacted by the ultimate punishment. Commuting the sentences of the 40 individuals on federal death row is an unprecedented opportunity for President Biden to cement his commitment to remedying injustice by exercising executive clemency.” Margaret Huang, president and CEO, The Southern Poverty Law Center: “The death penalty is rooted in a deep history of racialized violence. To this day, race is still the biggest predictor of who gets sentenced to death, with Black people accounting for nearly 40% of those on federal death row, despite representing less than 12% of the adult population. And fully 70% of those on federal death row are from the South. Our nation, and particularly the communities that we serve in the Deep South, cannot achieve true racial justice while the death penalty remains in practice.” Joia Erin Thornton, executive director, FLOCC (Faith Leaders of Color Coalition): “President Biden should commute all federal death sentences because doing so would acknowledge and help redress the racial bias built into the federal death penalty system, allow government resources to be redirected to policies that actually make our communities safer, and allow the families of victims and incarcerated persons to focus on healing instead of living in legal limbo.” This letter is one of more than a dozen letters released today from hundreds of stakeholders from across the political and faith spectrums calling on President Biden to commute all federal death sentences, including Black pastors, former corrections officials, business leaders, current and former prosecutors, families who have lost loved ones to homicide, mental health advocates, and many more. All of the letters can be found here. -
Press ReleaseNov 2024
Capital Punishment
National Security
Court Rules Signed Plea Agreements with Three of the 9/11 Defendants Are Valid and Must Go Into EffectCourt Rules Signed Plea Agreements with Three of the 9/11 Defendants Are Valid and Must Go Into Effect
WASHINGTON — A U.S. military court has agreed that the plea agreement reached with ACLU client Khalid Shaikh Mohammad back in August is valid and must go into effect. The judge’s decision comes three months after Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, overruled prosecutors and Brig. General Susan Escallier, the Guantánamo military commission’s convening authority, and revoked the signed plea agreement. In exchange for a guilty plea to all counts, the U.S. government agreed to life imprisonment instead of the death penalty for Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and two other defendants. The military judge’s decision follows litigation by the three defendants to enforce their agreement with the government. The negotiated plea process allows family members to get answers to long-held questions about the attacks directly from the defendants and, at sentencing, make statements about the tragic impact on them and their loved ones. The military judge has said he will next schedule a hearing for the guilty pleas to be entered. Since 2008, through its John Adams Project, the ACLU has provided capital defense support for detainees facing the death penalty in the military commissions, spending over $12.5 million to provide experienced capital defenders, mitigation specialists, investigators, and experts to the under-resourced military defense teams. Our efforts exposed unfairness, secrecy, and the ongoing role of torture in the Guantanamo military commissions, making clear that the commissions are a complete failure. The following is a statement from Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU: “By reinstating the plea agreements, Col. Matthew N. McCall rightly recognizes that Defense Secretary Austin stepped out of bounds. We are finally back at the only practical solution after nearly two decades of litigation. “The government's decision to settle for life imprisonment instead of seeking the death penalty in the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was always the right call. For too long, the U.S. has repeatedly defended its use of torture and unconstitutional military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay. As a nation, we must move forward with the plea process and sentencing hearing that is intended to give victim family members answers to their questions. They deserve transparency and finality about the events that claimed their loved ones. “This plea agreement further underscores the fact that the death penalty is out of step with the fundamental values of our democratic system. It is inhumane, inequitable, and unjust. “We also urge the U.S. government to quickly relocate the men cleared for transfer, and finally end all indefinite detentions and unfair trials at Guantánamo.” -
Press ReleaseOct 2024
Capital Punishment
ACLU and Partners Challenge Death Qualification and the Death Penalty in KansasACLU and Partners Challenge Death Qualification and the Death Penalty in Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, the Kansas Death Penalty Unit, Hogan Lovells, and Ali & Lockwood filed a challenge yesterday to the Kansas death penalty and to an unconstitutional jury selection practice unique to death penalty trials. The practice, called “death qualification,” dictates that to serve on a capital jury, a prospective juror must be willing to impose the death penalty. The ACLU and its co-counsel argue that death qualification is discriminatory, unconstitutional, and undermines the principles at the core of the legal system. Studies show that Black people, women, and those of religious faith are more likely to oppose the death penalty. As a result, death qualification warps the jury from a cross-section of peers to be whiter, more male, more conviction prone, less likely to debate the evidence, and far more likely to sentence a defendant to death. “Every person accused of a crime is entitled to a fair, impartial jury, but that’s never the reality in capital cases,” said Cassandra Stubbs, director of the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project. “The evidence is overwhelmingly consistent that Black Kansans are disproportionately disqualified from serving on capital juries. Death qualification, like the death penalty itself, is unconstitutional and undermines justice for everyone. We are committed to ending both.” By systemically barring Black community members from fully participating in jury service, death qualification violates the rights of both the accused and prospective jurors alike. Removing Black voices from capital juries perpetuates the legacy of all-white juries that have long condemned Black individuals to death. Death qualification is one piece of what makes the death penalty in Kansas racist, unjust, and unconstitutional. New evidence shows that every aspect of the death penalty — from who gets charged, to who has a fair trial, to who gets sentenced — echoes a long history of racial bias in the criminal legal system. In Kansas, there is an undeniable line connecting the state’s history of racial terror to its modern administration of the death penalty. When lynching became less publicly and politically acceptable, the death penalty emerged as a new form of racialized violence. “The death penalty in Kansas is unjust from start to finish and goes against all of the most fundamental principles of justice,” said Katie Ali, attorney at Ali & Lockwood. “From its disproportionate impact on Black Kansans to the high risk of wrongful convictions, it is clear that the death penalty serves neither fairness nor public safety. It’s time for Kansas to abandon this deeply unjust system.” In a series of hearings beginning on Oct. 28, the ACLU and co-counsel will present evidence and testimony from leading experts nationwide demonstrating that the death penalty in Kansas and death qualification are unconstitutional and racially discriminatory. The ACLU filed the challenges on behalf of Antoine Fielder, who is pretrial and facing capital charges in Wyandotte County. His case has been joined with another pretrial capital defendant, Hugo Villanueva, for the purpose of these hearings only.