Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
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The holiday season has long been a popular time for sitting presidents to issue pardons and commutations; but, in keeping with the clemency practice of virtually every modern U.S. president, Joe Biden has opted to withhold his power of forgiveness, at least for now.
In mid-December, CBS News’ Clare Hymes reported that there was a backlog of about 18,000 people, all convicted of a federal crime or having been court-martialed, seeking some form of leniency from President Biden.
While the administration has signaled clemency is forthcoming, none of these people will receive the answer they want, or an answer at all, this year.
“I don’t have anything to preview at this time,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded last week when she was asked by a reporter if President Biden had any pardons planned for the end of 2021. “I would just reiterate that the President has every intention of using his clemency power. And there has been some reporting, which is accurate, out there about nonviolent — looking at nonviolent drug offenders, but I don’t have anything to update you on at this point in time.”
This answer might not sit well with applicants or their advocates, but it is the common stance of the modern American president.
Mathematically, far more people apply for clemency than will ever receive it. Since the 1950s, a person’s chances of receiving clemency during a new president’s first year has become almost nil.
FIRST-YEAR PARDONS BY THE NUMBERS
The Justice Department maintains an exhaustive database of presidential pardons dating to the presidency of William McKinley, as well as more detailed information about all recipients of a pardon or commutation dating to the Nixon Administration.
While presidents from McKinley to Truman were willing to issue dozens of pardons upon entry into office, presidents from Dwight Eisenhower on have opted to offer few, if any, first-year pardons.
Eisenhower pardoned six people and commuted another person’s sentence in 1953. Nixon offered clemency to no one in 1969, Jimmy Carter commuted one sentence in 1977, Ronald Reagan pardoned two people in 1981, George H.W. Bush pardoned nine people and commuted one sentence in 1989, and Bill Clinton issued no clemency in 1993.
Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama waited two years before issuing a pardon, and Donald Trump issued a single pardon prior to Dec. 31 in his first year.
The three outliers, post Eisenhower, were John Kennedy (33, 24 pardons and nine commutations), Lyndon Johnson (206, 166 pardons and 40 commutations), and Gerald Ford (152, 147 pardons and five commutations).
PRESIDENTIAL PARDONS THROUGH HISTORY
Every president’s pardon activity ticked upward as his term in office progressed, and early reluctance to pardon had no bearing on the ultimate number of pardons and commutations issued.
Eisenhower granted clemency on 1,157 occasions. That’s an average of about 144 per year and similar to Kennedy, who issued 472 pardons and 100 commutations over four years (143 per year).
The president most willing to grant clemency was Johnson. In his six years, he granted some form of clemency on 1,187 occasions, which is an average of almost 198 per year.
Former President Obama bested Johnson in volume, having granted clemency on 1,197 occasions. But, as his presidency was spread over two additional years, his annual average worked out to a little under 150 per year.
On the other extreme, Reagan granted clemency 406 times over his eight-year term, an average of a little less than 51 per year. However, the president least likely to grant clemency was Reagan’s successor, George H.W. Bush.
The late president granted just 74 pardons and three commutations in his four years, an average of just over 19 per year.
The younger Bush granted clemency exactly 200 times in his eight years, an average of 25 per year.
It’s important to note that these numbers are merely totals and averages. There is nothing inherently wrong with more or fewer presidential pardons, and a pardon doesn’t necessarily mean anyone will be released from prison. Often, pardons are granted posthumously, or after the convicted party has already been released.
Former President Trump, for example, granted a pardon to Susan B. Anthony in 2018. Anthony, who had been convicted of illegal voting in 1873 and received a $100 fine, died 112 years prior to her pardon.
Each pardon or commutation is a unique case, and the level of controversy or newsworthiness varies wildly.
While few are likely to object to clemency granted to people who were convicted of drug offenses but have since made amends and become productive citizens, the response is quite different when a president appears to be bailing out his buddies.
Republican and Democratic president share a great deal in common when it comes to controversial clemency findings, often waiting until the end of their terms to issue controversial pardons.
On his last day in office, President Clinton pardoned his own half-brother, who had been convicted of conspiracy to distribute and the distribution of cocaine in 1985. On the same day, Clinton also pardoned Marc Rich, a billionaire and major Democratic donor who had been convicted of wire fraud, mail fraud, racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, criminal forfeiture, income tax evasion, and trading with Iran in violation of an embargo. Rich was, at the time, a fugitive from justice.
President Jimmy Carter issued a posthumous pardon to Jefferson Davis, a Democrat who had served as president of the Confederacy.
Republicans, though, are equally likely to issue a controversial pardon. Within a month of assuming office, President Ford famously pardoned Richard Nixon, preventing the recently resigned Nixon from being indicted, much less tried, for his involvement in the Watergate Scandal.
Although he maintained the timing was a coincidence, George H.W. Bush pardoned a man named Armand Hammer shortly after Hammer made a $100,000 donation to the Republican Party. Coincidentally, Hammer had been convicted of making political contributions in the name of another in 1976.
George W. Bush and Donald Trump both drew criticism for pardoning former members of their own administrations.
UNDERSTANDING CLEMENCY
At its best, clemency is a murky process for both those seeking presidential intercession and media onlookers alike; but all 50 states and most advanced nations on earth, certainly all democracies, have some level of clemency worked into their governing documents.
In the U.S., presidential clemency takes the form of pardons, commutations, and (less common) remissions.
In broadest terms, clemency is a catchall phrase to describe a president’s ability to grant forgiveness or leniency to people who have been convicted of federal crimes or court martialed.
A pardon restores the rights of a person convicted of a crime or, in incredibly rare instances, can halt criminal proceedings or prevent an indictment for a crime. The most famous of these occurrences, was Ford’s 1974 pardon of Nixon.
A commutation halts the punishment a person receives after having been convicted of a crime and a remission shrinks or eliminates the fines associated with a conviction.
Presidents can also grant a reprieve to convicted persons, which delays the start of punishment.
Importantly, none of these actions convey innocence. Even people receiving pardons still carry their conviction. However, in the case of a pardon, the weight of the Office of President is thrown behind the idea that the person has been, in some fashion, restored.