Wednesday, January 20, 2016
"Attorney Overseeing Clemency Initiative Leaving in Frustration"
Sadly, the title of this post is a headline in today's Washington Post, resting atop Sari Horwitz's (as always) solid work:
The Justice Department’s pardon attorney — charged with overseeing the review of clemency petitions from federal inmates — is stepping down at the end of January because she is frustrated by a lack of resources for one of the president’s centerpiece criminal-justice initiatives, according to people close to her.
The departure of Deborah Leff, who has been in her role since 2014, comes as the Obama administration struggles to process a backlog of more than 9,000 pending clemency petitions. As the president approaches the end of his second term, time is running out for his high-profile effort to offer clemency to certain nonviolent federal drug offenders harshly sentenced in the nation’s war on drugs.
A former trial lawyer, senior television producer and president of the Public Welfare Foundation, Leff was highly respected by sentencing reform advocates.
“She never got the staffing she needed,” said one friend. “She was very frustrated.” Other people close to Leff said that she was passionate about making the clemency initiative work but had been unhappy for quite some time about not having enough resources.
This is not a good development. At best, it will spur the administration to reform the clemency process by doing the following:
1) Take the the Pardon Attorney out of DOJ.
2) Have the Pardon Attorney's recommendations go to the White House for review without passing through the Deputy Attorney General.
That's it. Simple. Easy. No legislation needed.
