Civil rights groups anxiously preparing for the start of Donald Trump’s presidency breathed a sigh of relief Monday when President Joe Biden announced the largest one-day commutation of federal death row inmates in modern history.

The White House announced early Monday morning that the president would commute the sentences of 37 inmates awaiting execution in the federal prison system. Now, after the commutation, only three people will remain on death row: mass murderers Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Robert Bowers.

Much of Washington is now deserted as the Christmas holiday sends many lawmakers, staffers and other federal workers out of town for several weeks. The president’s action on Monday followed a weeks-long advocacy campaign by the ACLU and other death penalty opponents that urged Biden to move in that direction. It enlisted the support of both of the president’s allies on Capitol Hill, including actors like Martin Sheen (known for his West Wing Portrayal of President Jed Bartlett) as well as business leaders such as Richard Branson and Sheryl Sandberg.

By far the biggest supporter of these efforts was Pope Francis, who acknowledged the problem in his daily address in St. Peter’s Square.

Monday’s announcement also followed a move by Biden earlier this month to commute the sentences of hundreds of federal inmates who had previously been moved to home confinement. Similar to his recent decision, the commutation of 1,500 Americans was the largest single-day act of mercy by a U.S. president in modern times.

The president’s commutation of death sentences is likely to be well received by his Democratic base, in contrast to the Dec. 12 clemency declaration that, among other things, implicated a former federal judge convicted of sending children to for-profit prison facilities in return have for bribery. The “Kids For Cash” scandal is widely regarded as one of the worst underbelly of the US justice system in its history.

News that Michael Conahan would be among those granted clemency earlier this month sparked outrageous condemnation from many in his home state of Pennsylvania, including Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was believed to be the runner-up to Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy was buddy during the 2024 election.

By comparison, while MAGA supporters like Senator-elect Jim Banks spoke out about Biden’s order on Monday, expressions of relief poured in from top Democrats on the Hill supporting the “Commute the Row” campaign and others.

“By commuting the sentences of 37 people on death row, President Biden has taken the most consequential step of any president in our history to address the immoral and unconstitutional harms of the death penalty,” said Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU.

Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, was one of the Democrats in Biden’s case on commuting the death penalty. Durbin was among the Democrats who at least half-heartedly defended the president’s decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was awaiting sentencing on tax and gun charges. Biden had explicitly vowed not to pardon his son, a statement that he and his aides such as press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeated several times throughout the 2024 election.

“Thank you @POTUS Biden for answering this call to action to address the long-standing injustices in our legal system,” wrote Rep. Adriano Espaillat. “Today’s action represents a core tenet of humanity and upholds the moral integrity of our nation’s justice system.”

Richard Branson wrote in a Twitter thread: “Commuting these federal death sentences sends an important signal that there are alternatives to state-sanctioned killings. “By advocating for forgiveness and mercy, President Biden is on the right side of history.”

“The death penalty is broken. It’s inhumane and unfair. It’s expensive and wasteful. And it doesn’t ensure justice or make communities safer.”

Civil rights groups had feared a return to the accelerated pace of executions under Trump’s first term when the president-elect takes office in January. Federal executions halted completely before Trump took office, but by the end of his four years as president, Donald Trump had overseen more executions than any other U.S. president in 100 years. The 13 executions all took place in Trump’s final year in office.

Trump himself continues to be very open about his desire to expand the use of the death penalty beyond the standard set by the Supreme Court Coker vs. Georgia. Trump has said he will expand the death penalty to include people convicted of drug trafficking crimes, including potentially low-level dealers. This would require a major rewriting of case law by the highest court in the land.

“These are terrible, terrible, terrible people who are responsible for death, carnage and crime across the country,” Trump said in 2022. “We will seek the death penalty for anyone who sells drugs and gets caught.” heinous acts.”