NEW YORK, NY– In an opinion “essay” published by the New York Times this week, the publication reflected on President Joe Biden’s final days in office and what they may look like before President-Elect Donald Trump assumes the presidency again.
It also included opinion contributions in the essay.
The piece opened by citing Biden’s vows to act “with speed and urgency” to address the nation’s challenges at the beginning of his term, acknowledging those days contained both “peril and possibility.”
The article suggests that now, with his term nearly over, both the challenges and the opportunities of the past still remain.
The Times Opinion noted Biden’s recent decision to commute “the sentences of nearly 1,500 people” and pardon “39 others convicted of nonviolent crimes” as well as his controversial decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, who was awaiting sentencing for gun possession and tax-related charges.
The article continued to outline suggested steps that the president might take before leaving office. Among them was the possibility of commuting sentences for individuals on federal death row who may face execution during the Trump presidency. It discusses potential actions to advance the long-stalled Equal Rights Amendment and preserve environmentally significant landscapes.
The article also suggests steps such as protecting undocumented immigrants from deportation, addressing the student debt crisis, and safeguarding reproductive rights for women.
The essay emphasized that despite the close of his term coming quickly, President Biden still has it within his power to deliver on the promises outlined in his 2021 inaugural address.
The NY Times article includes several letters on the topics above, the first of which is about federal death row inmates and written by Martin Luther King III, eldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
King’s letter highlights the potential impact of commuting the sentences of the 40 current federal death row inmates. According to this author, this action would be a significant step towards racial reconciliation and equal justice in the United States.
King noted President Biden was the first president to openly oppose capital punishment, and that there have been no federal executions since his inauguration. He proceeded to warn that failing to commute the sentences could lead to the death row inmates being executed under the Trump administration, as there had been federal executions carried out during his first term.
He pointed out that the majority of the 13 federal executions carried out at the time involved people of color, despite there being cases where there was evidence of racial bias, convictions from all-white juries, and defendants who had intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses.
King further argued that similar issues exist in many of the cases regarding the current 40 death row inmates, more than half of whom are people of color.
King closed his letter citing his father’s idea that the death penalty perpetuates hate, violence, and vengeance, and argues that commuting the sentences would signify a shift towards values of love, peace, and mercy.
The next letter, by travel writer and TV show host Rick Steves, talks about people convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses. He says, “Mr. Biden has taken historic steps to address America’s outdated and failed federal marijuana polices,” citing Biden’s decision to pardon “thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession” in 2022 and his more recent decision to do the same for around 1,500 people, some of whom were nonviolent drug offenders.
Steves notes the Biden Administration proposed to reclassify marijuana as a “drug with a lower potential for abuse,” but argues that “he should pardon all Americans who have federal convictions for nonviolent marijuana-related crimes, and he should commute the sentences of every single person who is sitting in federal prison today for those offenses.”
Next is a letter by Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) who claims Americans face “degradation of reproductive freedom” as Republicans prepare to take control of the government, and she urges Biden to “enshrine reproductive rights in the Constitution right now.”
She argues for the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment, which in her view would make “discrimination on the basis of sex…including…abortion” unconstitutional.
Gillibrand noted the ERA passed in two thirds of Congress in 1972 and that “a flawed Trump Justice Department” was what prevented its certification as a constitutional amendment, concluding by calling Biden to “act now to protect reproductive rights and make the E.R.A. the law of the land.”
Next is a letter by Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice, who urges President Biden to release classified guidance documents from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which he argues could make it “harder for his successor to overwhelm the rule of law” in regards to Trump’s plans for mass deportation.
Waldman writes there is issued guidance from 1994 that regards the use of the military to enforce immigration law, as well as other guidelines for domestic deployment of the military, many of which remain classified.
John Leshy, a professor in San Francisco, talks about the possibility of Biden designating more national monuments, which would prohibit or restrict certain activities in specific places. One specific suggestion is a 2.5 million acre section of land in Oregon, which is “one of the largest expanses of relatively pristine land left in the continental United States.”
On the topic of immigration, Andrea Flores argues Biden has a “moral obligation” to act quickly facing what she calls “catastrophic threats” to immigrants by Trump. She states Biden can grant temporary protected status to countries facing adverse political and environmental conditions, which would allow eligible immigrants to apply for work permits.
Flores also pushes for Biden to “pause immigration court hearings and administratively close cases,” which would remove families and children from the “immediate threat of mass deportation.” Lastly, she calls for the Department of Homeland Security to expedite asylum claims for families previously separated, who she says remain vulnerable to future deportation.
Student debt is also addressed by Ryann Liebenthal, who leads by saying that “to call the nation’s student loan system a disaster is an understatement.” Liebenthal calls for Biden to cancel student debt for Americans aged 60 or older, and for borrowers who are in default on their loans, and for those owing money to for-profit schools.
While he suggests that such measures could be undone under a Trump administration, Leibenthal frames these actions as an opportunity for Biden to assume a near heroic position to Americans in debt.
In the last letter authored by David Cohen, Greer Donley and Rachel Rebouché, they focus on safeguarding abortion access in light of efforts by anti-abortion advocates to invoke a 151 year old law to prosecute individuals who mail abortion-related items, such as pills and medical supplies.
The letter claims the law in question, the Comstock Act, could expose abortion providers to prosecution for past actions, causing the authors to suggest Biden pardon anyone who could potentially be accused of violating the provisions in the act.
They specifically point to President Jimmy Carter’s precedent of granting a blanket pardon to individuals who avoided the Vietnam War draft as an example of such an action.
The authors also urge Biden to complete multiple pending efforts to protect reproductive rights, which would highlight the steps his administration has already taken, such as enabling telehealth as a method to prescribe abortion pills and ensuring that medically necessary abortions are provided in emergency rooms despite state bans.
They conclude by calling Biden’s administration to expand access to birth control and complete investigations into hospitals that fail to provide emergency abortions, making the results public.
Biden is spending much of his final weeks on vacation.
Just as he spent @ 40% of his Presidency on vacation.