Biden Clemency Spree Continues with 2500+ ‘Historic’ Commutations

At least none of those receiving commutations were named Biden. Or so we think.

Joe Biden has less than three days now to conduct business as president, so his options for mischief have begun to narrow. The most obvious way to curry favor with the press is through clemency actions, although that backfired mightily with the 11-year-Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free pardon for Hunter. Today, Biden is sticking with nonviolent federal felons convicted of drug charges, a much safer area for clemency, politically speaking:

President Joe Biden announced Friday that he was commuting the sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, using his final days in office on a flurry of clemency actions meant to nullify prison terms he deemed too harsh.

The recent round of clemency gives Biden the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued. The Democrat said he is seeking to undo “disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice.”

“Today’s clemency action provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes,” Biden said in a statement. “This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars.”

“Historic wrongs”? If Biden wants to argue that, why did it take him four years and a humiliating exit from the election to do something about it? Does Biden suggest that he sat back and ignored “historic wrongs” on a scale of 2500 cases as president until he was able to coast out of office? That’s a pretty pusillanimous position, no? 

Besides, what specifically was wrong with the convictions? Biden never identifies the actual “wrongs” on a scale that justifies 2500 commutations in a stroke. If the convictions were invalid, then Biden should have pardoned those felons on an individual basis. If the convictions were valid, they got sentenced to the term set by federal law. If judges overstepped in some cases, then that could have been addressed through commutations on an individual basis at any time over the last four years. 

Biden wants to argue that the sentencing guidelines are the “historic wrongs” because of disparities between substance types. According to his clemency statement (in which he brags about setting a record, natch), Biden specifically objects to the sentencing differences between powder and crack cocaine:

Today’s clemency action provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes. As Congress recognized through the Fair Sentencing Act and the First Step Act, it is time that we equalize these sentencing disparities.

This argument has always been nonsense. Federal law recognized a difference between powder and crack cocaine because the latter is more addictive and targeted more widely to lower-income users, making it more of a social scourge. Sentencing enhancements provided harsh disincentives to dealers and producers, and were effective in enforcement until we began abandoning them a few years ago. Since these convictions followed the passage of these statutes, it’s ludicrous to call them “historic wrongs” when the crimes were committed with full knowledge of what the sentences would be. 

And you know who agreed with this? Joe Biden! Scott Johnson reminds us of that today:

However, Biden doesn’t mention his own crucial support for the allegedly “discredited distinctions.” The Washington Post provided background in Elise Viebeck’s 2019 Washington Post story “How an early Biden crime bill created the sentencing disparity for crack and cocaine trafficking.” Biden declined to be interviewed for Viebeck’s story.

Was Biden wrong then or now? If possible, I’m going with both then and now.

Great point, and it’s an example of good reporting by the Washington Post in 2019. How about 2025? Their article on Biden’s blanket commutations does not mention the crime bill even once, let alone Biden’s role in crafting and passing it. But DEMOCRACY DIES IN DARKNESS, YO!

It does, however, note Biden’s pusillanimous approach to becoming “historic”:

Biden campaigned in 2020 to reduce the prison population and do away with the federal death penalty. But by the end of 2023, he had issued only 138 grants of clemency.

So courage! Much fortitude!

Anyway, as pardons go, these are largely irrelevant in the political sphere. They’ll be an asterisk in a disastrous presidential term. The real damage via clemency will likely come over the weekend in the form of Get Out Of Jail Free cards for White House aides that covered up Biden’s senility, administration figures involved in speech suppression and censorship, and anyone else that would come under investigation for weaponizing government in the Biden era. 

And don’t forget Frank and Jim Biden. Joe’s already pardoned the Biden Inc bagman, so don’t think for a moment that Biden will overlook its capos. Unless he forgets who they are, much like Biden has forgotten his own role in the crime bill that he is now repudiating sotto voce.