Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois spoke out Monday against President Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of 37 prisoners on federal death row.
“I have real concerns overall with the death penalty but I also have concerns with the executive branch overturning cases that have been decided by courts across the country,” he said on CNN. “We have to have some autonomy there.
“So, I understand the concerns and threats of a Trump administration going forward on these but I think the baseline is, I think you commute sentences or pardon people when you think justice was not done in those cases," he added. "It sets a precedent here, it goes well beyond pardoning his own son, which I think is a mistake, no one is above the law."
Quigley was referring to how Biden’s statement specifically mentioned the incoming Trump administration’s position on the death penalty.
“When President Biden came into office, his Administration imposed a moratorium on federal executions, and his actions today will prevent the next Administration from carrying out the execution sentences that would not be handed down under current policy and practice,” the White House statement said.
Host Kate Bolduan said Quigley brought up an “interesting point”—that Biden is “almost like using commutations as a point of policy in order to stop the administration coming in next, putting in place policy that they believe, which does seem to be different from what you’re looking at with Hunter Biden.”
“You know absolutely,” he replied.
Only three men remain on federal death row for “terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder’: Tree of Life Synagogue shooter Robert Bowers, Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.