Still more (not quite constructive) criticisms of recent federal clemency developments
NBC News has this lengthy new piece, headlined “Biden and Trump pardons come under scrutiny, renewing calls for reform,” that is long on recent clemency criticisms (especially Prez Biden’s last-minute clemency flurry) and short on serious clemency reform discussions. The piece is still worth reading, and here are a few excerpts:
The ability to pardon someone is one of the few areas where the president’s power is completely unchecked. There’s no constitutional mandate for a president to go through a certain process, and they’re free to pardon any person — no matter the crime or whether it could put a potentially dangerous person back on the street.
There have been plenty of calls to abolish the pardon power over the years, and presidents of both parties have used it to grant relief for friends, family members and donors.
The back-to-back presidential clemencies by Biden and Trump leaned on politics, drawing intensive scrutiny of the process and its potential for abuse….
Zöe Towns, executive director of FWD.us, an organization that advocates for criminal justice reform, said the rash of last-minute actions is precisely how the process is not supposed to work. “This should not be something we wait until the last gasps of any gubernatorial or presidential administration,” Towns said. “People should have a lot of chances to have their sentences re-examined, whether that’s through parole boards that are meeting or judges that are doing second look sentencing reviews, and also clemency.”
Towns added support to [Alice Marie] Johnson becoming pardon czar, calling it “extremely encouraging.”
“It’s great that somebody with her experience is in the role, and it’s also really great that it’s a role that has been created this early in a presidential term, and we’re hopeful that it can mean really good things to come,” Towns said.
I am highlighting Towns’ comments because I share her view that the naming of a “pardon czar” in the early days of a new administration is a positive development, and also because I am wondering when we will get any significant reporting on how this czar may influence or even reshape the federal clemency process and its outcomes. As I flagged in this post last week, it is unclear if and how DOJ’s Pardon Attorney and the pardon czar will work together; I am especially curious if the pubic will be privy to any stated criteria or goals that may impact the process, as well as whether any of this work will include public input or any real transparency.
Prior recent related posts: