Chabria: Newsom wants to empty death row. Most politicians wouldn't bother — or dare

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to commute all 548 death sentences to life without parole, potentially emptying the largest death row in the United States. This action would represent the largest mass commutation in U.S. history, reducing the national death-row population by over twenty-five percent. Newsom cited justice and human decency within an imperfect legal system as motivations. This decision occurs during his final months as governor and precedes a potential 2028 bid for president.