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Is Federal Clemency Working?

By Steve Hall

Two recent OpEd highlight problems with the federal clemency system. Mark Osler's Dallas Morning News OpEd is, "Obama's Mercy Dearth."  It appeared in Sunday's paper.  After 10 years as a Baylor Law prof, Osler moved this fall to the St. Thomas School of Law in Minnesota.  He's a former federal prosecutor. On Oct. 28, the White House announced that President Barack Obama had earlier in the month denied 71 pardon requests and 605 petitions for commutation of sentence, while granting none. Nearly two years into his term, Obama has issued exactly zero pardons and no commutations, a sorry record that distinguishes him from nearly all of his predecessors. This failure to act undermines not only an important constitutional mechanism, but the values that underlay it...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on November 09, 2010 (boomark / email).