ACLU Celebrates President Biden’s Historic Federal Death Row Commutations

National leaders and organizations across the political and faith spectrums joined the ACLU in calling on Biden to commute federal death sentences

December 23, 2024 12:00 am

Media Contact
125 Broad Street
18th Floor
New York, NY 10004
United States

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union celebrates President Biden’s historic action in commuting 37 federal death sentences. In making this decision, President Biden has taken an unequivocal stand against one of the most flawed and inhumane mechanisms of the U.S. criminal legal system.

Biden’s groundbreaking action comes after hundreds of organizations across the political and faith spectrums, including more than 130 civil and human rights organizations, faith leaders, exonerees, family members of victims, and law enforcement officials called on the President to commute federal death row.

Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU, released the following statement:

“President Biden took a historic and courageous step in addressing the failed death penalty in the United States – bringing us much closer to outlawing the barbaric practice once again. By commuting the sentences of 37 individuals on death row, President Biden has taken the most consequential step of any president in our history to address the immoral and unconstitutional harms of capital punishment. With a stroke of his pen, the President locks in his legacy as a leader who stands for racial justice, humanity, and morality. This will undoubtedly be one of the seminal achievements of the Biden presidency.

“President Biden has reaffirmed the power of redemption over retribution and reminds us that state-sanctioned killing does not make us safer. The ACLU has long advocated against the death penalty and shed light on its fundamental flaws: it is error prone, racially biased, and a drain on public resources. And although we had hoped President Biden would commute all federal death sentences for those reasons, today's milestone brings us much closer to our goal of outlawing the death penalty once and for all.

“President Biden has shown our country – and the rest of the world – that the brutal and inhumane policies of our past do not belong in our future. By commuting 37 federal death row sentences, he has paved the way for other elected officials to build on his legacy of racial justice, humanity and morality by commuting state death rows and passing legislation to abolish capital punishment.

“President Biden’s actions also remove 37 individuals out of harm’s way – as President-elect Trump has a proven penchant and track record of conducting rushed executions. In the last six months of his first term, President Trump executed 13 individuals – more than any administration in 120 years.

“The ACLU is proud to join countless advocates and civil and human rights organizations in thanking President Biden for his leadership and commitment to the highest principles of justice and humanity.”

In 2020, President Biden made history as the first president to openly oppose the death penalty. Under his leadership, the Department of Justice acknowledged the death penalty’s disparate impact on people of color as well as the 200 people who have been sentenced to death and subsequently exonerated over the past five decades.

Martin Luther King III, Sister Simone Campbell, Rev. Ralph McCloud, and exoneree Herman Lindsey – all prominent advocates for ending capital punishment – shared a video thanking President Biden .

The ACLU is ready on day one of the incoming Trump administration to challenge any unconstitutional expansion of the death penalty and any attempts to return to regressive killing methods. At the state-level, the ACLU will build on work against the death penalty, including ongoing litigation in states like Kansas and North Carolina, to invalidate capital punishment based on its racist administration, including in the selection of jury members.

The letter sent to President Biden from 134 civil and human rights organizations is here.

More on ACLU’s work to end capital punishment is here.

Learn More About the Issues in This Press Release