‘Abuse Of The Pardon Power’: Andy McCarthy Says Biden’s Death Row Commutations Are A Slap In The Face To Congress

Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy said Monday that President Joe Biden has usurped Congress’ power by commuting nearly every inmate on federal death row.

Biden’s move impacts the sentences of 37 of 40 federal death row prisoners, with the exception of the Boston Marathon bomber and two other inmates. McCarthy said on “America’s Newsroom” that the president interfered with Congress’ role of issuing a punishment for federal cases, making his act an “abuse of the pardon power.”

“I think it’s yet another abuse of the pardon power,” McCarthy said. “I think it’s interesting, Julie , that he didn’t give commutations on the death penalty to the three death penalty or death row inmates that were dealt with by the Biden Justice Department and the Obama-Biden Justice Department. So with respect to those family members and the grief and pain they’re going through, he couldn’t look them in the eye and say ‘oh, progressive principles don’t allow 🇺🇸US to go forward with the death penalty here.’ But he wiped the slate clean on everyone else and he did it in a way that is a categorical change of the law. That’s for Congress to make, it’s an abuse of the pardon power to use it that way.”

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McCarthy wrote in a column for the National Review that it is Congress’ role to end the death penalty by enacting a law, and accused Biden of abusing his pardon power due to the legislative branch’s failure to outlaw the practice.