Gavin Newsom’s decision to empty his state’s death row is a truly remarkable moment in the US’s death penalty history.

Not only will it free hundreds of people from the threat of execution, but coming from a politician seemingly looking to run for the presidency, it sends an important signal that America’s attachment to capital punishment is weakening, and opposing the death penalty is no longer a third rail in US politics.

When the news broke about Newsom’s clemency, I thought back to the moment in 1988 when the Massachusetts governor and Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis ended whatever hope he had of becoming president by sticking to his opposition to capital punishment after the CNN anchor Bernard Shaw asked: “Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?”

As Politico notes: “Dukakis answered instantly and smoothly. ‘No, I don’t, Bernard … And I think you know that I’ve opposed the death penalty during all of my life.’ He had been on the record for years and years on that subject … Dukakis didn’t believe in capital punishment. He had seen all the studies, and he didn’t believe it deterred crime.”

“In the press room,” Politico adds, “the murmurs over Shaw’s question now turned to mutters over Dukakis’ answer. ‘He’s through.’ ‘That’s all she wrote.’ ‘Get the hook!’”

Even with that lesson looming over him, Newsom’s decision to grant a universal clemency was not hedged or spun in any way. It is the latest and most consequential of a series of things Newsom has done to rid his state of the death penalty.

His anti-death penalty record is unparalleled in the........

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