Constitutional Law

The President's Pardon Power

The Washington Post published a brief profile of Ronald L. Rodgers, selected last month by President  Bush to head the DOJ's pardon office. The Post reports that the office "suffered under substantial backlogs after its previous leader was accused of mismanagement and of making racially offensive statements."

Since 2001, President Bush has pardoned 157 people and commuted 6 sentences. By contrast, President Ronald Reagan granted 393 pardons and President Bill Clinton granted 396 during their respective terms. In December, the Los Angeles Times reported that the federal clemency system has the largest backlog of cases in recent history. According to the Post, more than 2,000 requests for commutations and pardons are pending.

Margaret Colgate Love, who was quoted in the article and served as President George H. W. Bush's pardon attorney, wrote this ACS Issue Brief in October 2007 on "Reinventing the President's Pardon Power." She described her Issue Brief as follows:

This essay argues for a reinvigoration of the constitutional pardon power – a reinvention if you will – by a president who has the political courage to use that beneficent power as the Framers intended. It describes the historical use of the power, explains how pardon fell into disuse and disrepute late in the last century, and proposes that pardon can and should be restored to a useful and respectable role in our present-day justice system, and in our national politics.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on May 27, 2008 (boomark / email).