Op-Ed: Attorney General Kris Kobach: Joe Biden’s commutations denied justice without justification

Joe Biden’s commutations make a mockery of the rule of law, Kansas's attorney general writes.

Of all of the unilateral executive actions taken by President Joe Biden, his latest may be the most breathtaking. Not because he lacked the authority to do it, but because of its disregard for others. I am referring to his commutation of the death sentence of 37 of the 40 federal death row inmates.

Biden’s commutations make a mockery of the rule of law. None were instances in which the inmate had a credible claim of innocence or mistaken conviction. All were heinous murders — the worst of the worst. Justice dictated the imposition of the death penalty.

And imposing the death penalty was not easy. In each case, thousands of man hours and dollars were spent to secure the conviction and the penalty. So many attorneys, witnesses, jurors, judges, and other court personnel invested so much time and effort to hold a fair trial and impose the death penalty justly and fairly. And then more resources were spent to litigate the numerous appeals. But Biden didn’t care. He tossed all of that work in the trash on his way out the door.

Biden also didn’t appear to care much about the family members of the victims. It is hard to overstate the ongoing pain and sorrow that the murder of a loved one inflicts upon a family.

As Kansas Attorney General, I am particularly familiar with this. My office prosecutes a large number of capital cases and litigates the appeals. My office also oversees an entire division dedicated to assisting crime victims, and I’ve personally witnessed the pain families experience as they await final justice.

It is difficult to overstate how important it is for these families to see justice done. They wait years to finally see the closure that occurs when an execution is carried out. I have no doubt that Biden’s commutations of the murderers’ sentences hit them like a punch in the gut.

Finally, there are the victims themselves. Here too, Biden didn’t seem to care. He didn’t even mention their names in the process of commuting the death sentences of their killers. Because Biden couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge the victims and the lives they lived, I will list some of them.

The victims include:

• Kim Groves, a 32-year-old single mother of three;

• Dan Short, 51, a bank president who wrote sports columns and served as a high school football commentator;

• Robert Heflin, a 47-year-old bank guard;

• Alice Donovan, 44, and Samantha Burns, 19. Burns’ body has yet to be recovered. Biden removed what slim incentive may have existed for her murderer to disclose its location;

• D’Antonia Washington, 31, a correctional officer at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta;

• Guy Luck, 51, a French restauranteur in Atlanta;

• Sallie Gaglia, a 48-year-old postmaster from Georgia, who taught Sunday school to elementary kids;

• Donna Major, 59, a mother, wife and church volunteer;

• Katie Skeen, 36, a mother, wife and church volunteer;

• Shirley Chick, 50, and Charles Chick, 47, a married couple that loved camping;

• Rachel Timmerman, 19, and her 11-month-old daughter Shannon. Shannon’s body has never been recovered.

• Barbara White, 19, a mother to a one-year-old daughter;

• Karen Styles, a 22-year-old, who loved to run;

• Rita Pekler, a 39-year-old pregnant woman;

• Joyce Brannon, a 54-year-old nurse.

Those names must never be forgotten. Nor should it be forgotten how horrific the murders were. But President Biden’s team didn’t want to focus on the victims or those disturbing stories in the White House press release. It didn’t fit the narrative.

So how did Biden defend these commutations?

His press release claimed that this was all about promoting a “fair” and “effective” justice system. But there was nothing unfair about these convictions and the imposition of the death penalty. In each case, 12 well-vetted jurors decide unanimously that the appropriate penalty was death. They made that decision based on relevant and appropriate evidence, weighing aggravating and mitigating factors in a process deemed constitutional by the United States Supreme Court. The death row inmates had every opportunity to raise every possible issue on appeal. There’s nothing unfair about it.

Biden’s press release also said that he was “more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.” I understand that some people have a principled opposition to the death penalty under any circumstances. But that doesn’t explain Biden’s reasoning either. If that were the justification, then Biden would have commuted the death sentences of all 40 of the inmates on the federal death row.

Instead, he let the death sentences of Dzhokar Tsarnaev, Dylann Roof, and Robert Bowers stand. Tsarnaev was one of the terrorist brothers who carried out the Boston Marathon bombing, killing three; Roof killed nine black congregants in a racist attack at a church in Charleston, South Carolina; and Bowers was an antisemite who killed 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue. All were highly publicized cases — ones in which a presidential commutation might generate more pronounced public protest.

In short, Biden’s commutations denied justice without justification. And he did a profound disservice to the victims and their families. Our justice system should serve as a voice for the victims who are no longer here to speak for themselves. Their names are the ones that should be remembered.

Kris W. Kobach is the attorney general of Kansas. Prior to that, he was a professor of constitutional law at the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Law.