OPINION:
As if his 1,500 pardons weren’t enough to cause outrage, President Biden has gone further. Near the expiration of his failed presidency, Mr. Biden has commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Mr. Trump has said he wants to expand capital punishment, so this looks like another preemptive strike to thwart the incoming administration. Will Mr. Biden also issue preemptive pardons to people Mr. Trump’s Justice Department might prosecute? It could happen.
Among those receiving commutations, the Daily Mail reports, are convicted murderers Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks, who kidnapped and killed a woman after making a break from prison; Marcivicci Barnette, who killed a man and his ex-girlfriend; and Anthony Battle, who killed a prison guard.
In addition, a man who participated in a murder-for-hire plot on a Navy officer’s life, and Thomas Sanders, who killed a 12-year-old girl, will be spared from execution. Several convicted bank robbers who killed while committing their crimes are also getting clemency, including Billie Allen and Norris Holder, Brandon Council and Daryl Lawrence.
Mr. Biden issued a ludicrous statement to explain the inexcusable: “I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system.”
What? Mr. Biden says his only exceptions are for people convicted of terrorist acts and hate crimes. Why the distinction? Those not receiving commutations for their murderous crimes are Dylann Roof, who murdered nine people in 2015 at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 congregants at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2019.
Mr. Biden is engaging in selective morality. Why should motives play a role when it comes to murder? By his illogic, a pardon should be given to Luigi Mangione, who is charged with murder in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
This is what C.S. Lewis called “the humanitarian view of punishment.” Depriving a murderer of liberty is not a penalty equal to the taking of innocent life. Mr. Biden is engaging in what has been called “cafeteria Christianity,” obeying doctrines he agrees with while ignoring others with which he disagrees.
Mr. Biden appears to have no sympathy for unborn babies, however, and has done nothing to halt abortions in America, even late-term abortions.
Mr. Biden styles himself a “good Catholic.” He has been called that by Pope Francis, whom he will likely visit during his final foreign trip as president next month. Some Catholic politicians have even called him “devout.”
As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops notes: “Since the first century, the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.”
That Rep. Nancy Pelosi and other Catholic politicians say otherwise does not make any of them an authority on the church’s doctrine.
True, that same doctrine opposes capital punishment, but one shouldn’t be able to pick and choose which teaching to accept and which to reject and still be considered devout and not guilty of breaking the “moral law.”
On Oct. 23, 2014, in an address to the International Association of Penal Law, Pope Francis called for an end to capital punishment. He may praise Mr. Biden for his commutations, but will he issue anything approaching condemnation for the president’s refusal to defend the unborn who cannot defend themselves? I doubt it.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).
Please read our comment policy before commenting.