Federal pardons in the United States

Barack Obama meeting with prisoners El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in 2015

A Federal pardon in the United States is the action of the President of the United States that completely sets aside or commutes (lessens) the punishment for a federal crime. The authority to take such action is granted to the president by Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution, which states, "The president shall ... have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted this language to include the power to grant pardons, conditional pardons, commutations of sentence, conditional commutations of sentence, remissions of fines and forfeitures, respites, and amnesties.^[1] The pardon can also be used for a presumptive case, such as when President Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon over any possible crimes regarding the Watergate scandal.^[2]

A president cannot pardon someone for state or local crimes.^[3] Experts disagree as to whether a president can pardon himself.^[2]

Early history

Alexander Hamilton defended the pardon power in The Federalist Papers, particularly in Federalist No. 74.

Pardons granted by presidents from George Washington until Grover Cleveland's first term (1885–1889) were hand written by the president; thereafter, pardons were prepared for the president by administrative staff requiring only that the president sign them.^[4]

Modern process

As of 2015, Barack Obama had issued more than 1,000 commutations, more than any of his recent predecessors

All federal pardon petitions are addressed to the President, who grants or denies the request. Typically, applications for pardons are referred for review and non-binding recommendation by the Office of the Pardon Attorney, an official of the United States Department of Justice. The percentage of pardons and reprieves granted varies from administration to administration. Fewer pardons have been granted since World War II.^[5]

A federal pardon can be issued prior to the start of a legal case or inquiry, prior to any indictments being issued, for unspecified offenses, and prior to or after a conviction for a federal crime.^[6] President Gerald Ford's broad federal pardon of former president Richard M. Nixon in 1974 for "all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974" is a notable example of a fixed-period federal pardon that came prior to any indictments being issued and that covered unspecified federal offenses that may or may not have been committed.^[6]

The Justice Department requires that anyone requesting a pardon wait five years after conviction or release prior to receiving a pardon.^[7] The constitutionality of open pardons, such as Ford's pardon of Nixon, has never been judged by the Supreme Court and is open to question.^[8]

While clemency may be granted without the filing of a formal request, in most cases the Office of the Pardon Attorney will consider only petitions from persons who have completed their sentences and, in addition, have demonstrated their ability to lead a responsible and productive life for a significant period after conviction or release from confinement.^[9]

Limitations

Federal pardons issued by the president apply only to federal law; they do not apply to civil, state, or local offenses. Federal pardons also do not apply to cases of impeachment. Pardons for state crimes are handled by governors or a state pardon board.^[3]

A pardon can be rejected by the intended recipient and must be affirmatively accepted to be officially recognized by the courts. George Wilson was convicted of robbing the US Mail in Pennsylvania and sentenced to death. Due to his friends' influence, Wilson was pardoned by President Andrew Jackson. Wilson refused the pardon and in 1833, the United States Supreme Court held in United States v. Wilson that his rejection—and consequently the pardon not being introduced to the court by "plea, motion, or otherwise" as a point of fact and evidence—was valid and the court could not force a pardon upon him. Wilson was hanged.^[10]

According to Associate Justice Joseph McKenna, writing the majority opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court case Burdick v. United States, a pardon "carries an imputation of guilt; acceptance a confession of it."^[11] However, the federal courts have yet to make it clear how this logic applies to persons who are deceased (such as Henry Ossian Flipper, who was pardoned by Bill Clinton), those who are relieved from penalties as a result of general amnesties, and those whose punishments are relieved via a commutation of sentence (which cannot be rejected in any sense of the language).^[12]

While a presidential pardon will restore various rights lost as a result of the pardoned offense and should lessen to some extent the stigma arising from a conviction, it will not erase or expunge the record of that conviction. Therefore, even if a person is granted a pardon, they must still disclose their conviction on any form where such information is required, although they may also disclose the fact that they received a pardon.^[13] In addition, most civil disabilities attendant upon a federal felony conviction, such as loss of the right to vote and hold state public office, are imposed by state rather than federal law, and also may be removed by state action.

Controversies

The pardon power was controversial from the outset; many Anti-Federalists remembered examples of royal abuses of the pardon power in Europe, and warned that the same would happen in the new republic. Critics argue that pardons have been used more often for the sake of political expediency than to correct judicial error.

In the 18th century, George Washington granted the first high-profile federal pardon to leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion on his final day in office.^[16]

In the 19th century, Andrew Johnson controversially issued sweeping pardons of thousands of former Confederate officials and military personnel after the American Civil War.^[17]

In the 20th century, President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon on September 8, 1974, for official misconduct which gave rise to the Watergate scandal.^[18] Polls showed a majority of Americans disapproved of the pardon, and Ford's public-approval ratings tumbled afterward.^[19] Other controversial uses of the pardon power include Jimmy Carter's grant of amnesty to Vietnam-era draft dodgers on his second day in office, January 21, 1977,^[20] George H. W. Bush's pardons of 75 people, including six Reagan administration officials accused or convicted in connection with the Iran–Contra affair, and Bill Clinton's commutation of sentences for 16 members of FALN in 1999.

In the 21st century, Clinton's pardons of 140 people on his last day in office, January 20, 2001, including billionaire fugitive Marc Rich and his own brother, Roger Clinton, were heavily criticized. President Donald Trump issued his first pardon to former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio on August 25, 2017. Arpaio had been convicted of criminal contempt in federal court. Trump's pardon was met with widespread criticism from political opponents, and was relatively unusual because it was issued early in Trump's presidency.^[21]

Symbolic use

A symbolic use of the presidential pardon is the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation each Thanksgiving, in which a domestic turkey is pardoned from being slaughtered for Thanksgiving dinner and allowed to live out its life on a farm.^[22]

See also

• List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the President of the United States
• Office of the Pardon Attorney (PARDON) at the United States Department of Justice

References