During the seven years I spent portraying President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet on The West Wing, I developed deep respect for the presidency and the monumental challenges its real-life officeholders confront every day.
I myself urged Aaron Sorkin, the showrunner, to write a different ending. Allowing the television execution to proceed was a dramatic and believable outcome back then.
President Biden now has the opportunity to make a much better decision than President Bartlet did, by commuting all federal death sentences. And he has good reason to.
In recent years, we have become more aware of the death penalty's many shortcomings. These shortcomings include racial bias, the law's rudimentary acknowledgment of the effects of brain damage and mental illness.
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