The president of the United States, Joe Biden, announced this Thursday the largest number of pardons granted in a single day, according to the White House. It has decided to commute the sentences of nearly 1,500 people who were placed under home confinement instead of jail during the Covid pandemic and who have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities. In addition, it fully pardons 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes. The announcement comes weeks after the controversial pardon he granted to his son Hunter for the crimes of illegal purchase and possession of a weapon and tax evasion for which he was awaiting sentencing and also for any other crime committed since 2014, a decision harshly criticized even by the democrats.
“America was built on the promise of possibilities and second chances,” the president said in a statement. The White House assures that the measures are now extended to people who have demonstrated satisfactory rehabilitation. As examples, he has given that of a decorated military veteran and pilot who dedicates much of his time to helping his fellow church members with health problems or unable to perform strenuous tasks; that of a nurse who has led emergency response in several natural disasters and who helped lead vaccination efforts during the covid pandemic; and an addiction counselor who volunteers his time to help youth.
Biden has granted more pardons than any of his recent predecessors at this point in their first terms. He is the first president to grant widespread pardons to people convicted of simple marijuana use and possession, and to former military personnel convicted of private conduct due to their sexual orientation.
In addition, the president announces that he will grant new pardons in the coming weeks. “My Administration will continue to review clemency petitions to promote equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reintegration, and offer meaningful second chances,” the statement detailed. Anti-capital punishment activists are pushing to commute the federal sentences of those waiting on death row before Donald Trump, who in his first term resumed executions after nearly two decades without them, takes office.
The White House legal team has also been studying the possibility of granting preventive pardons to those who are feared to be subject to persecution and retaliation by the Trump Administration, such as former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney; Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Milley, who called the former president a “fascist”; Democratic senator-elect Adam Schiff, who led the first political process (impeachment) against the republican; the doctor Anthony Fauci, who coordinated the United States response to the covid pandemic, or the special prosecutor Jack Smith, who was in charge of the federal investigations against the now president-elect.
Democrats do not believe that they have committed any crime, but they are studying the convenience of shielding them to avoid investigations that would entail a reputational and financial cost for their victims, even if they do not end in charges, prosecutions or convictions.
non-violent crimes
The 39 people who were fully pardoned were convicted of non-violent crimes, including drug charges, and have turned their lives around. For their part, the nearly 1,500 people who have received commutations have been serving their sentences at home for at least a year under the CARES Act, enacted to alleviate prison overcrowding in the pandemic and prevent the spread of the virus in prisons. penitentiaries.
Some Republicans want to repeal that rule, which would mean a return to prison for them. “These commutation beneficiaries, who were confined to house arrest during the Covid pandemic, have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and have demonstrated that they deserve a second chance,” Biden noted in his statement.
The US Constitution does not recognize the retroactivity of the most favorable criminal laws. For this reason, Biden has decided to grant clemency to people convicted of non-violent crimes who were sentenced under outdated laws, policies and practices with which they received harsher sentences than if they had been tried today, as is the case of many of the 1,500 They now benefit from the commutation of their sentences, according to the White House.
The new pardons are added to others granted by Biden during his mandate. In April 2022, he granted three full pardons and 75 commutations to people with various drug offenses and to some people under home confinement under the CARES Act. In December 2022, it pardoned six people for various drug and alcohol-related crimes. In April 2023, he commuted the sentences of 31 other CARES Act recipients. In December 2023 and April 2024, it granted clemency to people convicted of non-violent drug crimes, with 11 pardons and 16 commutations.
In addition to individual measures, in October 2022, Biden issued a total, complete and unconditional categorical pardon for the federal crime of simple possession of marijuana, a measure that he completed in December 2023. In June 2024, he decided to repair a historical injustice with the pardon of the American soldiers who were convicted and expelled from the army for being homosexual.
“As President, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring the opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to eliminate disparities in sentencing for non-violent criminals, especially those convicted of drug crimes,” Biden explained in the text.
It is common for presidents to use the right of pardon granted to them by the Constitution at the end of their terms. Full pardons exempt beneficiaries from guilt and punishment, while commutations reduce or eliminate punishment without exonerating the crime. Sometimes, they are used only to erase records.
