Abbott’s decision: Whether to pardon Floyd

Doling out pardons is a holiday tradition for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who around every Christmas grants them to a handful of ordinary citizens, typically for minor offenses committed years or decades ago. But one name stands out on his desk: George Floyd.

Abbott has not said whether he will posthumously pardon Floyd this year for a 2004 drug arrest in Houston by a former officer whose police work is no longer trusted by prosecutors. Texas’ parole board unanimously recommended a pardon for Floyd in October. Since then, the two-term Republican governor, who is up for reelection in 2022, has given no indication of whether he will grant what would be only the second posthumous pardon in Texas history.

Floyd, who was Black, spent much of his life in Houston before moving to Minnesota, where his death under the knee of a white police officer last year led to a U.S. reckoning on race and policing.

“It doesn’t matter who you think George Floyd was, or what you think he stood for or didn’t stand for,” said Allison Mathis, a public defender in Houston who submitted Floyd’s pardon application. “What matters is he didn’t do this. It’s important for the governor to correct the record to show he didn’t do this.”