Thursday, September 19, 2024
PMT: Biden and Clemency
Rachel Barkow and I have a piece at the New York Times (online yesterday, probably in print in the next week or so) setting a clemency agenda for the last months of the Biden administration. It is my 4th piece in the Times, with the earlier ones in 2014, 2016 & 2021. You can read the latest one here. This is part of what we said:
End-of-term clemency chaos has become an unfortunate presidential
tradition, as presidents scramble after ignoring this crucial power for
most of their time in office. That is how we ended up with Bill Clinton unloading 140 pardons on his last day in office, including one to the wholly undeserving Marc Rich, a fugitive financier; George W. Bush
wrecking his relationship with Dick Cheney by refusing at the last
minute to give a full pardon to Scooter Libby, Mr. Cheney’s chief of
staff, for obstructing a federal investigation; and Donald Trump issuing pardons to undeserving cronies and celebrities....
