President Trump rips Gavin Newsom’s death row decision as ‘disaster for Justice in America’

President Donald Trump has criticised California Governor Gavin Newsom for commuting the death sentences of all 548 people on the state’s death row, calling the decision a “disaster for Justice in America”. Trump said victims’ families were devastated and hoped the move would be overturned; the dispute matters because advocates are preparing legal challenges to the blanket commutations.

Newsom described his decision as one he felt morally compelled to make. Victims’ relatives, including Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter Polly was murdered by a man sentenced to death, have condemned it. Former district attorney Anne Marie Schubert said her organisation would challenge the commutations, arguing clemency is usually assessed case by case and that district attorneys were not notified in advance; Orange County’s district attorney has asked the state Supreme Court to block them.