Former President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of several killers on death row at the last minute before leaving office.
Now, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wants to reverse those decisions and tell state officials to go after the death penalty for the inmates.
Bondi wrote a letter to Department of Justice (DOJ) employees on Wednesday about the commutes. In the letter, she said that Biden’s decision to grant the commutes “undermine[d] our justice system and subvert[ed] the rule of law.”
“The commutations also robbed the victims’ families of the justice promised — and fought hard to achieve — by the Department of Justice,” Bondi wrote. “The Department of Justice is directed to immediately commence the following actions to achieve justice for the victims’ families of the 37 commuted murderers.”
“Explore opportunities to provide a public forum for the victims’ families to express how the commutations affected them personally,” Bondi said, calling it an “important step” toward building trust and holding people accountable, Fox News reported.
Bondi said she would tell U.S. attorneys’ offices to use state law instead of federal law to go after people whose death sentences had been reduced. She said this would only happen “where appropriate and legally permissible” and “after consultation with the families of the victims and other interested parties.”
“The Capital Case Section shall assist the United States Attorney’s Offices in implementing this directive,” Bondi’s letter stated.
“Third, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is directed to ensure that the conditions of confinement for each of the 37 commuted murderers are consistent with the security risks those inmates present because of their egregious crimes, criminal histories, and all other relevant considerations,” she added.
In late December, Biden took 37 people off of federal death row and changed their sentences to life in prison without the chance of release.
The White House said at the time that the move would stop President-elect Donald Trump’s government from “carrying out the execution sentences that would not be handed down under current policy and practice.”
“The President’s criminal justice record has transformed individual lives and positively impacted communities, especially historically marginalized communities,” the White House statement said at the time. “In the coming weeks, the President will take additional steps to provide meaningful second chances and continue to review additional pardons and commutations.”
Biden only left three mass killers on death row: Dylann Roof, who killed nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who set off the bombs at the Boston Marathon; and Robert Bowers, who shot up the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018.
Bondi made headlines last week after the DOJ filed a lawsuit against New York state, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Attorney General Letitia James, accusing them of violating federal law by shielding illegal immigrants.
“This is a new DOJ,” Bondi announced at a news conference. “New York has chosen to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens. It stops. It stops today.”
Mark Schroeder, the New York Department of Motor Vehicles commissioner, has also been charged. Bondi referenced New York’s Green Light laws, known as the Driver’s License Act, which permits illegal immigrants to obtain a driver’s license.
The law prohibits certain federal agencies from accessing driver’s license information in New York State.
“They have green light laws, meaning they’re giving a green light to any illegal alien in New York, where law enforcement officers cannot check their identity if they pull them over,” Bondi said. “And law enforcement officers do not have access to their background. And if these great men and women pull over someone and don’t have access to their background, they have no idea who they’re dealing with, and it puts their lives on the line every single day.
“If you don’t comply with federal law, we will hold you accountable,” Bondi said. “We did it to Illinois, strike one. Strike two is New York. And if you are a state not complying with federal law, you’re next. Get ready.”
Last week, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to strike down sanctuary laws in Chicago and Illinois.
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