The Governor’s Moratorium on Death Penalty Executions

California voters have twice voted to continue the use of the death penalty; in 2012 and again in 2016 (Prop. 66). Shortly after being elected Governor of the State of California, and after making campaign promises that despite his misgivings about the death penalty he would not interfere with the will of the voters, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N09-19 effecting a moratorium on capital punishment in California. In so doing, Governor Newsom lied. He also violated the California Constitution, Article 5, Section 1, where it is mandated that a governor is bound to “see that the law is faithfully enforced.” But the Governor’s dishonesty and lack of integrity aside, you might be concerned with how this moratorium affects death penalty cases, new and existing, in California? The bottom line is that the death penalty in California is still alive, even if not so well. Governor Newsom did not grant any of California’s 737 existing death row inmates a reprieve, pardon, or commutation in that to do so—at least in any case where the inmate has two or more felony convictions (which is virtually everyone on death row)—a majority of the California Supreme Court has to give their approval (Cal. Const., Art 5, § 8). So it is pretty much understood that Governor Newsom’s moratorium on executions in California exists only so long as he occupies the Governor’s mansion. (See concurring opinion in People v. Potts ....

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