Activists have called for Biden to commute the sentence of many or all federal death row inmates for some time. More than 130 civil and human rights groups penned a letter to the president in early December calling on him to commute the sentences of "all individuals on federal death row."

President Biden's rationale behind his move to commute the sentences of 37 of 40 federal inmates on death row remains unclear, according to crime data expert John Lott.