Was Biden Right To Take Prisoners Off Death Row?

Plus: A listener asks the editors to consider the Second Amendment's key importance for keeping the government in check.

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Was Biden Right To Take Prisoners Off Death Row?

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In this week's The Reason Roundtable, editors Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Peter Suderman welcome special guest Tim Carney to the show. The panelists discuss Joe Biden's commutations of 37 out of 40 federal death row sentences, before unpacking the latest on the traditional end-of-year struggle in Congress to pass a spending deal.

00:39 - Joe Biden commutes federal death row sentences
06:41 - Congress scrambles to pass spending deal
29:32 - Weekly listener question
36:12 - Will Trump administration policies be more family-friendly?
48:59 - This week's cultural recommendations

Mentioned in this podcast:

"We Don't Need Terrorism Laws When Murder Is Already Illegal," by Matthew Petti
"Cancerous Politics," by Eric Boehm
"Third Time's the Charm?" by Christian Britschgi
"The Crony Capitalism Litmus Test," by Timothy Carney
"Tim Carney: Why Aren't People Having More Kids?" by Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe
"Baby Incentives," by Liz Wolfe
"Government Can't Fix America's Baby Bust," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"Storks Don't Take Orders From the State," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"Report from 'Alienated America': Podcast," by Nick Gillespie

Send your questions to [e-mail]. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.

Today's sponsor:

• ZBiotics. ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol Probiotic Drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by Ph.D. scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Make ZBiotics your first drink of the night, drink responsibly, and you'll feel your best tomorrow. Go to zbiotics.com/ROUNDTABLE to get 15 percent off your first order when you use ROUNDTABLE at checkout. ZBiotics is backed with a 100 percent money-back guarantee so if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked.

Audio production by Ian Keyser
Assistant production by Hunt Beaty
Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve

• Video Editor: Ian Keyser
• Producer: Hunt Beaty

What are we consuming this week?

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• Love Actually

Peter Suderman

• Silo, Season 2

Timothy Carney

• Go hear Christmas carols at church

Matt Welch

• Edward Hopper House

---

Comments

[Don't look at me!]

Kill the unborn , not murderers.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

It’s the democrat way.

[docduracoat]

any time there is a question in the title of an article…
the answer is always no

[Uncle Jay]

"Was Biden Right to Take Prisoners Off Death Row?"

Ask their victims.

[Michael Ejercito]

No

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Honestly conflicted about these commutations because I don't trust the government to not fuck it up and execute innocent people. But in the larger picture the species would be better off if these sub humans ended up in a crematorium. Also don't give a shit what Reason editors think so I'm left with my questions unresolved. Not the first time.

[Social Justice is neither]

I don't think commutations are an issue overall but mass commutations to the point you know there was no consideration of the specifics, that is the problem to me. If he'd been capable and reviewed 10 a week and commuted anything he thought was even 10% in question it would be fine, not politically feasible just logically acceptable but this looks more like a blanket FU to to society and the President's role.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

True dat.

[imppress]

If there was no consideration, why did he keep three?
I'm uninterested in killing murderers until the appeals process costs less than life in the poke. It's cheaper to feed them for 100 years. It's insane that lawyers cost so much, but they do.
There's the outside shot they're innocent, and I'd rather employ prison guards than lawyers.
Killing murderers satisfies vengeance, which isn't nothing, but how much in extra taxes do we want to pay to lawyers for that visceral sense of justice done? Me, I don't care. As long as they don't mix among polite society again. (Parole reform is needed anyway. Not every murderer lands on death row.)

[charliehall]

Trump has called for the execution of at least eight innocent Americans.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Lol. God damn you guys get dumber by the day.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

And Charlie is one of the dumbest. He’s in a race with Shrike and Sarc.

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

Hopefully you are on the list

[IceTrey]

Obama assasinated 6.

[Ben of Houston]

Here's my problem.
Biden is substituting passing a law with temporary measures.

The law says that the death penalty is legal. As president and nominal leader of the Democratic Party, Biden is the person with most ability to change the law. He could probably meet with Pelosi and get good agreement. Pull a few RNC libertarians who don't trust the justice department to not mess things up, and while change might be difficult, it isn't absurd to think it could pass.

But they don't.
They don't even try.

Instead, he's using his power to put duct tape over the situation, neither fixing the law to his stated ideals not accepting the law and working within it.

[sarcasmic]

Trump accelerated executions, and likely will do it again. So no, because it's the opposite of what Trump did. And because he's a Democrat.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Glad you haven't forgotten your retarded strawman bullshit in all that time you're rarely here.

[Michael Ejercito]

There was nothing wrong with accelerating executions.

That is what FJB should have done.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

What's hilarious is his tweet about it said he didn't commute those "motivated by hate."

President Biden
@POTUS
·
Follow
I am commuting the sentences of 37 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole.

This action is consistent with my Administration's moratorium on federal executions, except for cases involving terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.

Glad thought crimes and politics were considered.

[Don't look at me!]

They know what they are thinking.

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

The Death Penalty is immoral, except when it serves a political message.

Such a good Catholic

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

One of those commuted ordered the deaths of 12 different people. But he didn't do it from hate.

[shadydave]

Yeah I mean that's it: 40 of 40 says one thing morally. 0 of 40 says a different thing morally. 37 of 40 says 'morality' played no part in the decision.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Indeed.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/dershowitz-newsmax-deathrow/2024/12/23/id/1192689/

“Dershowitz joined "Newsline" to discuss why Biden didn't commute the sentence of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev while allowing at least five child killers — including Thomas Sanders and Jorge Avila-Torrez — and several mass murderers to live out their lives in prison.

"Look, I oppose the death penalty. I've been opposing it since I was a law clerk, even before that in 1962. So, I'm pleased," Dershowitz said. "Now the criteria seems strange; why he allows Tsarnaev to be executed. He was a very young man, deeply influenced by his older brother who was killed. And yet he commutes the sentence of merciless cop killers and children killers.

"You know, the clemency power of the Constitution really knows no law. It's completely discretionary. And I suspect Biden did this only because the Boston Marathon killing was such a high-profile, high-visibility case. But there's no rational reason for allowing Tsarnaev to go to his death and not allowing these merciless cop killers and baby killers to spend the rest of their lives in prison.”

[CE]

If the federal death penalty is so bad, why not ask your party to overturn it when they control Congress? The President shouldn't commute sentences because he disagrees with the law the people's representatives passed, he should commute sentences only in special circumstances, such as for someone who was initially overcharged or who has clearly been rehabilitated.

[Ben of Houston]

Yes. Whether it's Biden's commutations or Obama just refusing to allow the penalties to happen, the DNC has refused to pass legislation to change the law.

[Mickey Rat]

So whatever motivates someone to rape and murder an prepubescent child not as worthy of condemnation as "hate" in the Biden Administration's view.

[JeremyR]

What I find odd about people on the right (and Reason) getting the vapors over the killing of the United Healthcare CEO is at the same time, they mention things like "Second Amendment's key importance for keeping the government in check."

What exactly do think that check is? Violence. Shooting people. And that is exactly what happened to the United Healthcare CEO. Yeah, you can argue it wasn't the government, but the government and health conglomerates are so heavily entwined it's basically corporatism.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

I'm not sure i follow you here. Are you saying any business that is beholden to government regulations and makes a profit is justified in having their CEO killed?

They dont force you to buy their insurance plan. So not sure how you can blame them.

[Social Justice is neither]

So to you the 2A is about your ability to murder random people you think wronged you? Totally the same as unjust laws or laws applied unjustly (and not in the commie utopian version of unjust).

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Why don't people get the difference between initiating the use of force and self-defense against it?

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Because they are democrats.

[charliehall]

The Second Amendment lovers indeed should rejoice at the murder of the CEO. They claim that the reason for the 2A is to make it possible to overthrow the government. Health Insurance companies have been licensed by the government to make life and death decisions.

I don't agree with the people who rejoice at ANY murder.

[Don't look at me!]

Fuck you.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

You can choose one of the ACA plans your hero Obama implemented.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

No, democrats like you, who hate 2A, cheered the death of Brian Thomspon. And democrats like you swoon or the dreamy Luigi Mangione.

[CE]

If you can't tell the difference between cold-blooded murder and self-defense against tyranny, keep reading.

[Mickey Rat]

If you think Biden should have done this, then you have no cause to gripe.about an Imperial Presidency or dictatorship from now on. You are in favor of the President nullifying Congressionally made law.

[MasterThief]

And the courts who decided to issue the most severe penalty reserved for the most heinous acts.
I'd like to know the specifics of those on death row who he pardoned and the 3 remaining. It's a middle finger to their victims.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Here is those pardoned. With crimes.

https://x.com/CWBOCA/status/1871207449233154486

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

And the ones he didn't.

Dylann Roof murdered nine black people at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, in June 2015.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 2013 Boston Marathon bomber.
Robert Bowers, the man who murdered 11 people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

I wonder what other damage Biden will inflict on America (and the world) on his way out.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

I'm figuring on WW3.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

He’s has been trying for some time now. His nap schedule appears to have slowed his efforts.

[charliehall]

Idiot. Clemency and pardon power is in the Constitution.

[Mickey Rat]

Joyous are fine with a Presid3nt nullifying laws on his own authority?

[CE]

Blanket clemency is the Executive Branch trying to rewrite the law passed by the Legislative Branch. It's as bad as the Executive Branch trying to give public money away with the Legislative Branch authorizing it. And now Biden has done both.

[charliehall]

"Was Biden Right to Take Prisoners Off Death Row"

Yes

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

No, he wasn’t. But of course you champion the lives of murderers and child rapists.

They’re your people.

[Peter Kreeft taught me LOGIC, BEWARE !!!!!!!]

I know, I know. You can't give your personal opinion , blah, blah, blah.
But you lean to saying "Yes" or you would not have phrased it htat way. Works of mercy don't usually piss off over half the country. Biden is a stupid, lazy man who can't speak, Why is he and that cackling harridan in power.

[JohnZ]

The 'incident" that occurred in New York city the other day underscores why the death penalty needs to be used. When an ILLEGAL ALIEN from Guatemala sets fire to an innocent victim, a white female in her twenties , because he has no fear of punishment thanks to fat Alvin Bragg and other worthless liberal prosecutors. I'm telling you this POS will be set free pending trial, if there is one.
OR the monster that raped and murdered two young girls. What about them? I suppose because they were white, they didn't count.
Nope, because we have a senile old man pretending to be President and an administration filled with hatred and willing to burn America down just to spite Trump, and they will do it. They will burn the country to the ground if allowed to do so and commuting the executions of some the most evil monsters proves it.

[SIV]

If Biden was commuting the sentences of federal death row prisoners out of a sincere moral opposition to capital punishment he should have done it for all of them.

[(Good Riddance Robert L. Peters) Weigel's Cock Ring]

Sleepy has just enough cognitive function left to understand that if he showed so much as a hint of leniency to a white supremacist like Dylann Roof, what's still left of his base of support will despise him forever, and his boss and puppet master Block Insane Yomomna and liquored-up second string puppet Kamala would use it as.a justification to invoke the 25th amendment and remove him as one fi al humiliation. Sleepy doesn't have the balls to try to do a move like that

[SIV]

FWIW, if I was an outgoing president and inclined to commute the sentence of any federal death row inmates I would commute only those who weren't originally sentenced to death but received the sentence while in prison for killing a rival gang-member, a snitch or maybe a guard.

[The Ignorant One]

Good job Joe, spare the child killers. Top notch.

[Mickey Rat]

Child rapists/killers.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (5-30 Banana Republic Day)]

Biden has a special kinship with child rapists. His daughter will vouch for that, and has done so.

In writing.

[I, Woodchipper]

If he had given a blanket commutation to everyone on death row, I'd respect it more.

Commuting just the child murderers and such but not others is just sick. Absolutely sick. It means he really does support the death penalty for the worse crimes and these ones are , in his mind, not that bad. Unbelievable.

[IceTrey]

He's not cognitive enough to stand trial or run for reelection but he can pardon anyone he wants?

[JohnZ]

By now it's plain that this decision is not from sleepy Joe but from the Bolshevik Jews in his administration.
We can expect even more outrageous crap from that noxious lot in the run up to Trump's inauguration. They would burn the country to the ground if they could and you can bet they are going to try it.
Just be prepared for anything.

[James K. Polk]

Pardons/commutations should ordinarily be done on a case-by-case basis. The more serious the crime/punishment, the more careful and exacting the analysis must be. I don't think that happened here.

In fact, there is real doubt about whether sleepy Joe participated in any significant way in this mass commutation. This seems like another policy decision made by the blue-haired white house faction.

[Leftshot]

Of course not! Biden was too busy carefully and exhaustively analyzing each of the 1,500 other pardons and commutations he gave last week. [Sarcasm intended.]

[RickAbrams]

Prisoners: Right or wrong. he did it! It stops right here.

Second Amendment:
https://bit.ly/3trpriB June 9, 2022, CityWatch, Only The Federal Government is Constitutionally Barred from Control, by Richard Lee Abrams

The GOP has no use for the US Constitution and what it says. Scalia's Orginalism was a farce. Originalism means the constitution meant whatever Scalia wanted it to mean.

[StevenF]

Actually, the 2nd amendment states that the right to keep and bear arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. It does not limit that to the Federal Government. It should be noted that the VERY SAME Congress that drafted the 2nd amendment also drafted the 1st amendment stating Congress shall make no law ...
As Congress, as used everywhere else in the Constitution refers to the Federal legislature, the 1st amendment arguably only applies to the Federal government. Had the drafters of the Bill of Rights intended to limit the application to the Federal government, they could have easily used such language.

[Leftshot]

Tim Carney made the point I've been making. Keeping these murders alive ensures more people are going to die and suffer violence at their hands. Prisons are violent, dangerous places and no politician has done a thing to make it less so. NO ONE is addressing this, not on this podcast, or in the Executive or Legislative Branches. Instead, they pretend this doesn't happen.

[StevenF]

If he had commuted the sentences of all 40 Federal death row inmates, his claim of moral opposition to the death penalty would at least be consistent, even if you disagree.
By NOT commuting the death sentence for 3 of the convicts, he put the lie to that claim.

[Marc St. Stephen]

Seriously, a broader tough question.

Not because of Biden's actions - he shouldn't have done this as it is the law and he's usurping the will of law. If he had a specific example of someone he thought was innocent, I'd support that; but this wasn't the case, he had walked a tightrope to placate the anti death penalty advocates, piss off death penalty supporters and not completely piss off large groups of victims at the hands of broad and politically charged crimes.

More broadly speaking, I think, as far as death penalty use, there needs to be a second category of Guilt. Let's call it "Concretely Guilty"

In this, guilt is found NOT on circumstantial evidence, but on undisputed guilt facts - such as video footage clearly showing the guilty be guilty, a large number of credible witnesses or a willing confession that is not disputed. This should be necessary for use of the death penalty to damn near guarantee that an innocent man is not being executed.

I also think that the Guilty should be able to elect the death penalty if they wish - its a win/win: The guilty get to escape the hell that is long and dangerous incarceration that almost certainly does not ensure rehabilitation and the taxpayer gets to save money on incarceration costs.

[Peter Kreeft taught me LOGIC, BEWARE !!!!!!!]

Just more inducement for traditional anti-gun folks to buy a gun.
What a fool Biden is and has always been.

Even the Washington Post tells the fool he's a fool

Why anti-gun Americans joined the wave of new gun owners
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/anti-gun-gun-owners/

Anti-Gun Americans Become a Wave of New Gun Owners: What?
https://keepingdemocracyalive.com/anti-gun-americans-become-a-wave-of-new-gun-owners-what/