President Joe Biden commuted sentences for 11 non-violent drug offenders and issued a sweeping pardon for simple possession and marijuana use under D.C. and federal law.
While the power to pardon is not under question, Biden asserted that he aimed to use his executive authority as an example to drive policy reform at the state level, saying "It's time that we right these wrongs. Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely due to the use or possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either. That's why I continue to urge Governors to do the same with regard to state offenses and applaud those who have since taken action."
Biden announced the plan without securing the support of Congress and both the House and Senate voted this year to block the plan, though Biden vetoed its cancellation.
Though the legislature did agree to some concessions in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Republicans conceded far less on the issue than the White House wanted and Biden has pursued executive actions on the matter.
In March, Biden issued an Executive Order aimed at reducing gun violence, which directed executive branch agencies to heighten scrutiny of federal firearms licensees, called "FFL's", to ensure compliance with existing legislation and thereby expand the number of background checks.
Upon taking office, Biden quickly set about upending as much of former President Donald Trump's own executive actions as he could, cancelling the 2017 Executive Order that banned travel to the United States for 90 days from seven predominantly Muslim countries, recommitting to the Paris Climate Accord, imposing a COVID-19 mask mandate in federal buildings, promoting "Racial equity" in health care, reversing environmental deregulation, to name a few.
The flurry of executive orders to erase Trump's own prompted even the Biden-supporting New York Times to publish an editorial asserting that Biden was unduly exercising executive authority to the extent that it risked causing instability.
No comments:
Post a Comment