Biden tries to Trump-proof agenda, bolster legacy in final days in office

Demonstrators protest against US President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, outside of Children's Hospital Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California on December 23, 2024. [AFP]

Like prior lame-duck US presidents, Joe Biden has been racing to complete unfinished business in an attempt to bolster his legacy -- and protect his signature policies -- before handing over the keys to the White House.

With archrival Donald Trump returning to power, Biden's work to protect his administration's official actions, and his own reputation, has taken on added impetus, experts say.

"Departing presidents often try to both accomplish as much as they can prior to leaving office and also shape public opinion of their administration," Robert Rowland, a University of Kansas communications professor, told AFP.

"There are many examples of intense lame-duck periods," particularly when power changes from party to party, said Julian Zelizer, a history professor at Princeton University.

Biden, whose rare public appearances have shown him visibly physically diminished, is no exception to the rule.

His recent decision to commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal death row inmates triggered the wrath of his Republican adversary.

In response, Trump has vowed to seek to have even more defendants sentenced to death.

"Biden is scared by what he fears President Trump may do," said Rowland.

"That fear is making him especially forceful in trying to limit the agenda of the incoming Trump Administration and to solidify his administration's accomplishments," he said.

The outgoing president had previously granted 39 presidential pardons and commuted sentences for nearly 1,500 people, with the White House hailing it as "the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history."

"All presidents use their power to pardon or commute sentences at the end of their presidencies," Wendy Schiller, a Brown University political science professor, told AFP.

Zelizer said the judicial actions may be motivated by Biden seeking to "honor some of the promises he made during his campaign on criminal justice."

One of his most notable decisions, however, was to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, who he said had been subjected to unfair treatment by the courts and prosecutors.

The move provoked strong criticism from Trump and Republicans, but also from close Democratic allies.

Rowland said the pardon has "definitely had a major negative impact" on Biden's reputation, adding impetus to his final days' work to shape public opinion of his outgoing administration.

Another one of Biden's pledges was to take action on student debt owed by millions of Americans.

Days before Christmas, the outgoing president announced student debt cancellation for 55,000 public service workers.

That brought "the total number of individuals who have been approved for student debt relief under my Administration to nearly 5 million people through various actions," Biden said.

For Rowland, "the most striking decision" by Biden in his final days has been the "effort to get as much aid to Ukraine as possible before Trump becomes president."

In December, Washington announced four new shipments of military equipment to Kyiv, worth several billion dollars, to aid in the country's fight against Russia's invasion.

While it is still uncertain what Trump's policy will be toward Ukraine once he is in the Oval Office, the Republican has voiced strong opposition to US missiles being fired into Russia, which Biden approved after the election.

Biden also recently increased US commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Trump, a noted climate change skeptic, may attempt to walk those back, with a friendly Congress at his side.

The White House and Democrats in the Senate -- which is set to flip to Republican control, along with the House of Representatives -- have been working to quickly confirm as many judges as possible.

Biden has made appointing diverse candidates to the federal bench a priority, including by naming the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, during his term.

In all, at least 235 federal judges have been confirmed by the Senate during Biden's four years in office, a record for a single term since the Jimmy Carter administration, the White House boasts.

As Democratic-aligned groups aim to stymie the Trump agenda through the courts, Biden-appointed judges may help temporarily, though key issues may ultimately end up in the Supreme Court, where conservatives have a broad 6-3 majority.