“President Biden announced on Friday that he would commute the sentences of nearly 2,500 inmates serving long prison terms for nonviolent drug offenses, the broadest commutation of individual sentences ever issued by a U.S. president,” the New York Times reports.

“The commutations are for offenders who received harsher sentences for drug crimes than they would under current practices, a move aimed at reversing longstanding criminal justice disparities, Mr. Biden said. Those disparities disproportionately affected Black people and fueled mass incarceration, many experts say.”

Washington Post: “President Joe Biden is ending his time in office as he began, with a burst of executive actions meant to differentiate him from the man who preceded him and will succeed him: President-elect Donald Trump.”

“Biden’s actions have been far-reaching, touching nearly every area of government, and are likely to continue up until his final hours in office… Even as many at the White House were packing up their offices — planning to vacate at the end of the day on Friday — there were still last-minute preparations for additional executive actions.”

“In the final days of his term, President Biden has issued a series of policy decisions intended to cement his agenda and, in some cases, make it harder for President-elect Donald Trump to put in place his own,” the New York Times reports.

“The 11th-hour decisions, many of them executive actions, include measures on environmental justice, prison reform, immigration and foreign relations. Some are intended to preserve Mr. Biden’s legacy, while others are last-ditch efforts to expand his approach. Many are likely to be undone after Mr. Trump takes office next week.”