This piece covers the fallout from last-minute clemency moves tied to the Biden administration, centered on the Justice Department pardon attorney’s push to commute sentences for federal death row inmates and the congressional pushback those recommendations prompted.
At the end of the administration, thousands of pardons and a string of commutations stirred outrage and questions about judgment and accountability. The actions were framed by critics as a slap in the face to victims and their families, and lawmakers raised concerns about who was driving those decisions. The controversy focused not just on outcomes but on the people making the recommendations.
It emerged that Elizabeth Oyer, the Justice Department’s pardon attorney, pushed clemency for some of the most notorious inmates. Among the names that shocked observers was Dylann Roof, the man who murdered nine worshippers at a Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina.
Sen. Hawley questioned Oyer. “You were President Biden’s Pardon Attorney, is that correct?” “I was the Justice Department’s Pardon Attorney,” Oyer replied. “You made clemency recommendations to the White House, whether or not to pardon inmates, is that correct?” Hawley asked. “My job was to make clemency recommendations,” Oyer said.
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Hawley pressed further. “And in that capacity, you recommended that the President of the United States, Joe Biden, grant clemency to all 40 federal death row inmates. All of them. Clear them out, correct?” “Sir,” Oyer replied, “as I told Chairman Grassley, I’m not free to discuss the recommendations.” Hawley cited a memo, reading, “‘Disparity and undue severity of sentence which are present in many if not all of these cases, have been recognized as grounds for clemency.'”
The exchange turned personal and blunt as Hawley brought victims into the room. “Let’s just talk about the people who you recommended. You talk about honoring victims? The people who you recommended get clemency and live at the expense and sufferance of taxpayers for the rest of their lives. Let’s start with Dylann Roof. Dylann was a neo-Nazi who murdered nine African-American worshippers at a Bible study in Charleston, SC. Do you remember this case?” “I do remember,” Oyer said.
“I would hope you did. Here’s his victims. Want to look at them? There they are. Nine of them, at a Bible study,” Hawley said. “In a church. Killed in cold blood. The DOJ knew from day one that he had decided, I’m going to quote from the prosecutors, ‘decided to attack African-Americans because of their race. He further decided to attack African-American worshippers in a black church in order to make his attack more notorious.’ More notorious. And yet you recommended that he be granted clemency, live at the expense of taxpayers the rest of his life, substitute your judgment for that of the American judicial system. Do you stand by that recommendation today?”
“Sir, I’m not going to comment on the recommendations that I made, but I can tell you that Mr. Roof is going to die in prison,” Oyer replied. “Oh, he’s going to live in prison for a very long time because of you. Because of your recommendations,” Hawley shot back. “Here’s what you said in your memo of October 30, 2024. You said that actually Roof is not a compelling candidate for clemency, but you recommended it anyway. Why? Because he suffered from anxiety, you said. Right? He suffered from anxiety. Did it ever occur to you that maybe the families of his victims might suffer a little bit of anxiety because he marched into their church and murdered them in cold blood, because he was an incredible racist and he wanted to get on TV?”
Roof ultimately did not have his sentence commuted, but he was one of only three who avoided clemency; the reporting and testimony showed the rest of the federal death row list was targeted. The other two were Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber, and Robert Bowers, who attacked the Tree of Life Synagogue. Senator Eric Schmitt leveled sharp questions about a broad commutation push and the memo trail behind it.
“And you talked about how you’re concerned with public safety. On November 4, 2024, you authored a 73-page memorandum recommending the commutation of all 40 federal death sentences, isn’t that correct?” Schmitt asked Oyer. “Well, as I’ve told two of my,” Oyer began. “Yeah, I know,” Schmitt interrupted her, “but don’t play the game with me, because it’s not. They’ve waived executive privilege. I have the report right here. It’s dated April 24, 2026. It’s actually your memo is quoted in here. It’s public knowledge, and the idea that you would come here, you know that, already, you would come here and disparage somebody else and not be willing to answer questions about how you commuted the sentences of murderers is ridiculous.”
“I can’t believe that you’re here to do that,” Schmitt added. “I don’t have the authority to commute,” Oyer said. “Do you deny it?” Schmitt asked. “Do you deny that you authored the memo?” “I’m not sure which memo you’re referring to,” Oyer replied. Oyer stammered. “I can’t say without … ” Schmitt blasted her. “It’s ridiculous. Honestly, I can’t believe you did. You did and everybody in America and in the world can pull it up. So it’s a ridiculous … it quotes your letter,” Schmitt said when Oyer interrupted him. “It quotes your letter. You should just admit it … everybody knows you authored it.”
The human toll in the cases named drove the anger. Tsarnaev’s attack killed three people in 2013 and wounded hundreds, including children and families permanently changed by loss and injury. Bowers murdered 11 worshippers in a synagogue in 2018, leaving communities grieving and demanding accountability. Many on the right see the push to clear federal death row as a betrayal of victims and a dangerous substitution of bureaucratic mercy for established justice.
