Thursday, December 19, 2024
PMT: Clemency is getting confusing
We are in a very strange time for clemency at the federal level. First President Biden gave an unprecedentedly broad pardon to his son Hunter. Then he gave pardons and commutation to hundreds of people, most of whom were out of prison but still under supervision. Now there is discussion of Biden giving preemptive pardons to people who may be subject to investigation after the administration changes. Next, President Trump is talking about pardoning January 6 defendants. By "Jan. 6," I mean this:
We will see how that plays out once Donald Trump takes office.
What all of this mess is doing is unmooring clemency from what it has traditionally been in this country: A means to give mercy to those who request it and can show a change in their lives. Certainly that was true of most of the CARES Act people released (a measure I support), but the rest of it is about other things.
This could get very strange very soon.
