Is Gov. Newsom’s Closure of San Quentin Abuse of Executive Authority?

California Gov. Gavin Newsom defied the state’s voters within 6 weeks of being sworn in January 2019. He said during his campaign he would abide by the will of California voters who in 2016 rejected Proposition 66, a ballot initiative that would have repealed the death penalty, and instead voted to expedite the executions of the inmates currently sitting on death row. Newsom supported the initiative to repeal.

Gov. Newsom announced in March 2019 he was granting reprieves for all death penalty murderers on California’s death row, calling the death penalty “ineffective, irreversible and immoral.” He then signed an executive order putting a moratorium on the executions of the 737 inmates currently incarcerated on California’s death row.

With Newsom’s announcement a political friend said, “Another 737 just went down.”

“We cannot advance the death penalty in an effort to soften the blow of what happens to these victims,” Newsom said. “If someone kills, we do not kill. We’re better than that.”

The Globe reported that California voters have voted to uphold the death penalty eleven times since 1972. “The Governor’s decision to grant a blanket reprieve to prevent executions is an abuse of power and a slap in the face of the families of murder victims,” Criminal Justice Legal Foundation Legal Director Kent Scheidegger said at the time.

While initially Newsom’s current decision appears to be an abuse of power, Article V, Section 1 of the California Constitution gives the Governor supreme executive power.

“The supreme executive power of this State is vested in the Governor. The Governor shall see that the law is faithfully executed.”

However, it does say “The Governor shall see that the law is faithfully executed.” What about the will of the voters who voted to uphold the death penalty, and for expedited executions of those on death row? Is this abuse of executive authority?

“This is just another example of Governor Newsom acting as a one-man legislature, ignoring the will of the voters who enacted reforms to the death penalty which were upheld by the Supreme Court (Briggs v. Brown),” Attorney Kathleen Mastagni Storm told the Globe Tuesday. “In a democracy these kinds of issues should be left to the people, not the whims of one man. The State and Federal Constitutions place limits on executive authority. Historically challenges to executive authority are not common. However, Newsom’s use of his executive authority has already faced several challenges. We are hopeful and expect that there will be more challenges to his belief he has broad sweeping authority. This is a political calculus, the outcome of which is uncertain as public safety falls further and further into jeopardy. Proposition 66 was intended to speed up the death penalty process, not be used as a loophole to transfer death row inmates to different housing units and provide them more amenities. Mixing death row inmates into general population also raises serious safety concerns within the facilities, both for the inmates and correctional staff. This is an end around to repeal the death penalty that denies the voters their rights.”

The Associated Press just reported Newsom’s proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 seeks $1.5 million to find new uses for the vacant condemned housing at San Quentin. The money would be used to hire a consultant to “develop options for (the) space focused on creating a positive, healing environment to provide increased rehabilitative, educational and health care opportunities.”

As James Lacy reported for the Globe in August 2021, Governor Newsom accepted more than $700,000 from two major law firms to both create and defend his Executive Order repealing death penalty rules and dismantling the death chamber at San Quentin.

“Californians remain generally supportive of the death penalty law according to the most probative recent polling of the issue,” Lacy continued. “Early in June, the national polling firm of McLaughlin and Associates found 49% of Californians would vote No if a constitutional amendment to abolish the death penalty is placed on the ballot in 2022 by the Legislature, while 43.8% would vote Yes. When voters are informed of issues that would be raised during a campaign to repeal the death penalty, opposition to repeal increases to a majority of 53.3% of voters saying No to abolishing California’s death penalty law, and support drops to just 40.5%.

See poll results: https://usjf.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CA-Statewide-Executive-Summary-6-8-21-1.pdf.

California hasn’t executed anyone since 2006 when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor.

Of the 171 condemned California death row inmates who have died since 1978, there have been 15 total executions, and 156 non-execution deaths.

13 were Executed in California
1 was Executed in Missouri
1 was Executed in Virginia
108 died of natural causes
30 were suicides
15 “other” deaths
3 “pending”

In 2019, Newsom said the system has wasted “billions of taxpayer dollars.” However, Newsom was Lt. Gov. for eight years, and with Gov. Jerry Brown’s long history of opposing the death penalty, neither ever proposed actual reforms to the death penalty process. Currently, once a criminal is convicted to death row, he is granted three automatic appeals, which take decades. Most death row inmates die of old age rather than being put to death for their crimes.