When President Joe Biden leaves the White House, he will leave behind a mixed legacy on the issue of capital punishment. He was the first person openly opposed to the death penalty to serve as president. However, his administration’s actions have left abolitionists confused and disappointed.

As we contemplate the possibility that Vice President Kamala Harris might succeed him, the question is whether she would do more than Biden has to put an end to all death-penalty prosecutions and support the abolition of the federal death penalty. Based on her record as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, as well as her public statements, it is far from certain that she would be an improvement.

And she even may be baited into running a law-and-order campaign. As the Wall Street Journal notes, “Trump is attacking Harris, accusing her of being soft on crime … and criticizing her record as a prosecutor.”

This criticism could, Politico reports, “make the phrase ‘Kamala the Cop’ — once a phrase used by Harris’ detractors on the left — a de facto campaign slogan.” When it comes to the death penalty, that would be a major mistake.

Indeed, the first test of her death-penalty commitment will be whether she gives in to the temptation to run a tough-on-crime campaign this year. She can do better in opposing capital punishment than Biden did as a candidate or president.

Biden ran as an abolitionist, and his attorney general, Merrick Garland, reimposed a moratorium on executions in the federal system. But the Justice Department has initiated new capital prosecutions in a few cases and opposed almost every effort by anyone on the federal death row to obtain redress from the courts.

And to this point, Biden has not used his clemency power to empty the federal death........

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