On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he intends to commute the death sentences of all 548 prisoners on California’s death row to life imprisonment without parole.
His explanation was remarkable.
Executions, he declared, are incompatible with California’s values, undermine the foundations of our legal system and diminish every Californian. He invoked justice and human decency, describing his decision as necessary and righteous.
Whose values? Whose conception of justice?
And by what authority does the governor presume to speak for the conscience of every Californian?
California voters rejected abolition of the death penalty in 2012 and again in 2016. In that second election, they also approved Proposition 66, intended to expedite capital proceedings.
