Clemency Bids Backing Up For Bush

[Hissyspit]

Clemency bids backing up for Bush

More than 3,000 petitions by federal inmates are pending. The president acted on only 18 in fiscal 2007.

By Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 22, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The federal clemency system is approaching gridlock as a surge in applications for pardons and commutations has resulted in the largest and most persistent backlog of cases in recent history, according to federal data obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

As of Oct. 1, more than 3,000 petitions for clemency filed by federal prisoners were pending with the Office of the Pardon Attorney, Justice Department statistics show. That compares with an average of 500 to 1,000 in the five decades since World War II.

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The backlog has grown sharply in recent months. After acting on several hundred petitions each year since 2001, Bush closed only 18 cases in fiscal 2007, which ended Sept. 30. The last action Bush took was to commute the 30-month prison term of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in July.

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Critics say the lack of action on clemency applications reflects an abandonment by Bush of the discretion he holds under the Constitution to commute sentences. Bush has granted 113 pardons and commuted four sentences since taking office. That is the lowest number of any president since World War II, except for President George H.W. Bush, who granted 74 pardons and three commutations in his one term.

The critics also said the backlog raises questions about whether the Justice Department is up to the task of assessing petitions in an orderly and fair way.

"The number of cases that are not being acted on is skyrocketing," said P.S. Ruckman Jr., a clemency expert and author who is an associate professor of political science at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill. "There have been times in history when there have been just as many applications but not this huge gap" of unresolved cases, Ruckman said.

[bluestateguy]

1. I'm sure he'll solve that problem

On January 20, 2009, he'll pardon Scooter Libby, Jeffrey Skilling, Bernie Ebbers, Duke Cunningham and David Safavian.

The rest of the applications will be thrown in the trash can.

[Selatius]

2. Not really unexpected from a president who comes from the death penalty capital of America.

Honestly, this is standard procedure with Bush.