Tag Archives: clemency

Uncle Joe Goes Light on Clemency Gifts This Christmas – Update for December 22, 2023

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We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

CLEMENCY FOR CHRISTMAS

clemencyjack161229I had a post prepared wondering whether we would see any clemency from President Biden this year. As I was putting it up this morning, the President announced one mass pardon and commutations of sentences for “11 fellow Americans who are serving unduly long sentences for non-violent drug offenses.”

First, the mass marijuana pardon. The President granted a pardon 

to all current United States citizens and lawful permanent residents who, on or before the date of this proclamation, committed or were convicted of the offense of simple possession of marijuana, attempted simple possession of marijuana, or use of marijuana, regardless of whether they have been charged with or prosecuted for these offenses on or before the date of this proclamation.” The pardon covers people violating 21 USC § 844 (simple possession on federal property), 21 USC § 846 (attempts to possess pot), DC Code sections prohibiting simple possession of marijuana, and any of a thundering herd of Federal regulations that prohibit “only the simple possession or use of marijuana on Federal properties or installations, or in other locales, as currently or previously codified.

numbersBeyond that, the President commuted the sentences of 11 people convicted of drug offenses. His clemency picks by the numbers:

• Two of the recipients had trafficked in methamphetamines and nine in cocaine or crack;

• Four of the recipients were serving life terms, five were serving 20-year sentences, one a 22-year sentence, and one a 15-1/2 year sentence;

• For the non-life sentence people, the average sentence was 235 months. The commutations cut those sentences by an average of 19%;

• One life sentence recipient had served 15 years, the other three had served from 25-27 years;

• Two of the life-sentence inmates still have substantial time left to serve, one 8 years and the other 12 years; and

• Nine of the recipients were in prison, two were already on home confinement or in halfway house;

Any clemency is good clemency, but President Biden’s production is a little paltry. Last year, Biden issued pardons to six people on December 28, four for various low-level drug offenses, one for the illegal sale of whiskey, and one to an 80-year-old woman who killed her husband 47 years ago. All of the people were convicted for crimes that occurred at least 20 years before. No one had served more than two years.

At the time, the White House said the pardoned people had served sentences and “demonstrated a commitment to improving their communities and the lives of those around them.” This time around, the President said that the commutation serves “to uphold the values of redemption and rehabilitation.”

President Biden’s clemency performance to date is tepid. Law professor Mark Osler, one of a handful of clemency scholars in the US, wrote in The Atlantic:

Obama granted more than 1,700 commutations, which, unlike a pardon, shorten a sentence while leaving the conviction standing. But he accomplished this by cranking the broken system hard; he never changed the process. The news since then has been depressing. Donald Trump used clemency largely to reward tough guys, fraudsters, and others he knew or admired, and only a couple hundred of them at that. Joe Biden is the most lackluster user of the pardon power in memory. He has done little beyond granting commutations to people who are already out of prison and pardons to minor marijuana offenders. He has yet to even deny any petitioners by presidential action. An enormous backlog of petitions languishes, ignored.

clemency231222The politically safe but meaningless blanket pardon for simple marijuana possession will likely garner the headlines. Remember, when the President announced a mass pardon in October 2021, none of the eligible recipients was even in prison. President Biden’s action today has cut the number of pending petitions for clemency by an estimated six-one hundredths of a percent. There’s a reason I tell people wanting a federal clemency to use the $1.00 it will cost to mail it for a lottery ticket instead: the odds of winning big in Powerball are so much better.

White House, A Proclamation on Granting Pardon for the Offense of Simple Possession of Marijuana, Attempted Simple Possession of Marijuana, or Use of Marijuana (December 22, 2023)

White House, Clemency Recipient List (December 22, 2023)

Reuters, Biden reduces sentences of 11 facing non-violent drug charges (December 22, 2023)

The Atlantic, The Forgotten Tradition of Clemency (December 16, 2023)

AP, Biden pardons 6 convicted of murder, drug, alcohol crimes (December 30, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

Turkeys Pardoned While 18,000 Wait – Update for November 21, 2023

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BIDEN GRANTS PARDONS  – BUT JUST FOR SOME TURKEYS

President Biden bettered his dismal record on granting pardons and commutations yesterday. Unfortunately, the gobbling recipients are not in BOP custody.

pardonturkey231121Two Minnesota turkeys, Liberty and Bell, arrived at the White House in a stretch Cadillac Escalade to receive a pardon from the President in the annual darkly humorous (except to the incarcerated and their families) White House Thanksgiving ceremony. The Washington Post calls a “hollow tradition.”

Although Biden branded it “the biggest edition of this wonderful White House Thanksgiving tradition,” the Post said the “event felt exceedingly breezy and unmemorable — even by turkey-pardon standards.”

The birds hatched in July on a farm near Willmar. Within 150 miles of the farm are nearly 1,500 men and women in BOP facilities, none of whom received pardons or commutations yesterday. Over 18,000 clemency applications are on file at the DOJ (not including the two for the turkeys).

clemency220418Last week, Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer visited FCI Petersburg to provide a series of educational sessions about the federal clemency process. Given the 18,000-application backlog and low number of Biden pardons and commutations granted almost three years into his term, the purpose of the Pardon Attorney’s “initiatives” is unclear. The Pardon Attorney said the visit and prior sessions at Ft Dix, Lewisburg and Aliceville are part of a year-round initiative by her Office “to increase the accessibility and transparency of the clemency process through education and community engagement.”

Better gobbledygook couldn’t have emanated from the happy birds, Liberty & Bell. And they should be happy. Today, without even asking for it, they got something over 18,000 federal prisoners have asked for but not gotten: clemency.

MPR News, Minnesota turkeys headed to White House for presidential pardon (November 17, 2023)

Washington Post, Biden turns 81, pardons turkeys, confuses Britney for Taylor (November 20, 2023)

Prison Policy Initiative, Executive inaction: States and the federal government fail to use commutations as a release mechanism (April 2022)

Dept of Justice Press Release, Readout of Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer’s Visit to Federal Correctional Institution Petersburg (November 15, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Biden Commutes Sentences of 31 People Who Are Already At Home – Update for May 1, 2023

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BIDEN COMMUTATIONS UNDERWHELM OVER 17,400 PEOPLE

obtaining-clemencyPresident Biden commuted the sentences of 31 federal prisoners last Friday, all of whom are currently on CARES Act home confinement. In each of the cases – involving sentences from 84 to 360 months – the commutation cut their imprisonment-at-home terms to end on June 30, 2023.

The 31 people whose sentences were commuted were doing time for nonviolent drug offenses, but none was in a secure facility. Instead, they were already living at home, working or going to school, attending religious services, shopping, but being confined to their homes otherwise, a White House official said. Nevertheless, the people whose sentences were committed, according to the Biden Administration, “have demonstrated rehabilitation and have made contributions to their community.”

Many of those receiving commutations would have received a lower sentence if they had been convicted of the same offense after passage of the First Step Act.

I don’t doubt that the 31 deserved commutations. My complaint is that addressing overly-long sentences that could no longer be imposed and mass incarceration by commuting 31 sentences is like bailing the ocean with a spoon.oceanclemency230501

The 31 commutations appeared to be window dressing to last Friday’s announcement of the White House’s broader initiative that aims to bolster the “redemption and rehabilitation” of people previously incarcerated through greater access to housing, jobs, food and other assistance. The announcement came at the end of Biden’s proclaimed “Second Chance Month,” which the White House says is an attempt to put a greater focus on helping those with criminal records rebuild their lives.

The “second chance” effort, described in a Dept of Justice 66-page Strategic Plan Pursuant to Section 15(f) of Executive Order 14074 issued last Friday, is an ambitious plan to provide rehabilitation services to federal and state prisoners, including programs for education, addiction treatment, services to female inmates, reduction of the use of SHUs and the now-obligatory plans to address LGBTQI+ prisoners, especially transgender ones. It promises changes to provide immediate Medicaid healthcare coverage to people being released, access to housing, enhance educational opportunities; expand access to food and subsistence benefits, and provide access to job opportunities and access to business capital.

As part of the push, the Dept of Education will make 760,000 federal and state prisoners eligible for Pell Grants through prison education programs and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will make some prisoners eligible for limited Medicaid coverage shortly before their expected release.

bureaucracybopspeed230501The plan begs the question of why, with First Step now over five years old, DOJ is only now providing its hagiographic description of what it intends to do. For example, the Dept of Education announced that it would renew the availability of Pell grants for prisoners – once common in the BOP but discontinued as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 – 20 months ago. But so far the BOP has only made access to Pell Grants “currently available through a pilot program to seven sites within BOP, where 300 incarcerated students are enrolled in college courses with two additional sites beginning implementation.”

Thus, with a head start beginning in August 2021, the BOP has signed up only 0.2% of its population for college course (which, incidentally, count for FSA credits).

clemency170206As for the clemency, the President’s commutation action brings the total number of federal prisoners whose sentences he has reduced over more than two years to 111, according to DOJ data. With 17,145 clemency petitions on file, this means that in Biden’s presidency thus far, he has acted on about 0.6% of petitions on file.

Biden’s promise early in his presidency to set up a White House commission to efficiently and fairly assess clemency petitions has never come to pass, just as his two large commutation announcements – 75 commuted in April 2022 and 31 now – appear to have just been a gimmick: heavy with women last year and all on home confinement with nonviolent drug convictions this year. One can only hope the DOJ’s ambitious “strategic plan” is more substantive than the President’s other criminal justice reform initiatives.

The White House, Clemency Recipient List (April 28, 2023)

DOJ, Rehabilitation, Reentry, and Reaffirming Trust: The Department of Justice Strategic Plan Pursuant to Section 15(f) of Executive Order 14074 (April 28, 2023)

Washington Post, Biden grants clemency to 31 drug offenders, rolls out rehabilitation plan (April 28, 2023)

Washington Times, Biden reduces sentences for 31 drug offenders (April 28, 2023)

The Hill, Biden to commute sentences of 31 nonviolent drug offenders, releases new rehabilitation plan (April 28, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

‘Nothing’ Really IS Sacred – Update for April 25, 2023

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DEPT. OF MEANINGLESS CELEBRATIONS

partytime230425In honor of President Biden’s March 31 proclamation marking April as Second Chance Month, the Dept. of Justice’s Office of Pardon Attorney hosted “A Celebration of Second Chances” last Friday.

The event featured opening remarks by Deputy Attorneys General Lisa Monaco and Kristen Clarke and a panel of DOJ speakers and prior clemency or compassionate release recipients. who will discuss the impact of second chances through clemency. OPA said in a press release that it “is dedicated to supporting the President’s work to provide second chances to individuals who are currently or previously were incarcerated by the federal justice system.”

The event featured a panel of DOJ speakers and prior clemency or compassionate release recipients, who discussed “the impact of second chances through clemency.” OPA said in a press release that it “is dedicated to supporting the President’s work to provide second chances to individuals who are currently… incarcerated by the federal justice system.”

nothing230425Horror-and-fantasy cartoonist Gahan Wilson, whose work fueled my adolescent sense of irony way too many years ago, once drew a cartoon of strangely-clad cultists worshiping an altar festooned with the word “NOTHING” and a large “N.” One skeptic at the side of the crowd is asking another, “Is ‘nothing’ sacred?” Second Chance Month has succeeded in making life intimate art: Biden’s clemency initiative (as was Trump’s) is a ‘nothing,’ and Second Chance Month is worshiping it.

clemency220418Rarely has dedication been accompanied by such institutional failure. About 18,000 clemency petitions languish on file at DOJ, many dating from the Obama era. When elected, Biden promised a restructuring of the clemency process to expand its use and remove what he saw as excesses of the Trump era. That never happened. Biden granted clemency to 81 people last year (as well as people with federal marijuana possession, none of whom was in prison for the offense, had filed for clemency, or – for that matter – has even been publicly identified).

On an ACLU podcast last week, Cynthia Roseberry, Acting Director of the ACLU’s Justice Division, called on Biden “to retrospectively give clemency to people who have been charged previously and are sentenced disparately because they were charged with crack cocaine” during Second Chance Month.

DOJ Office of Pardon Attorney, Second Chance Month 2023 (April 12, 2023)

ACLU, Clemency Is One Answer to the War On Drugs (April 20, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

The Legislative Push for Drug Reform Resumes – Update for March 2, 2023

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MEANWHILE ON CAPITOL HILL…

equal220812I reported January 30th that the EQUAL Act was about to be reintroduced. A week ago, Sens Cory Booker (D-NJ), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and others, along with Reps Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), Don Bacon (R-NE) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the House Democratic Leader, got it done, simultaneously introducing “bipartisan” EQUAL Act bills in the House (H.R. 1062) and the Senate (S.524).

Meanwhile, some Republican lawmakers are excited about a survey released last week by the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (CPEAR). The survey found that 68% of respondents back ending federal marijuana prohibition. The result was 10% higher than a year ago.

“The polling is clear: federal cannabis prohibition is in direct contradiction to the overwhelming will of the American electorate, including a notable majority of conservative voters,” Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, said. “I hope more of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will heed the call of their constituents and join me in working towards a safe and effectively regulated legal marketplace.”

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) was not as sanguine. Mace, who filed a comprehensive marijuana legalization bill in the last Congress, said that “it appears the only place where cannabis reform is unpopular is in Washington, DC.”

The lack of serious interest in pot reform shows at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, too. Last week, NORML complained that despite President Biden’s announcement last October of a blanket pardon for people convicted of simple federal marijuana possession, “none of the 6,557 Americans identified by the U.S. Sentencing Commission as being eligible for presidential pardons have received them.”

clemency170206Reason said last week that ”Biden, after reaping political benefits by announcing the pardons a month before the midterm elections, has not actually issued any. He got good press and may have helped Democrats in the midterms by motivating voters who care about drug policy reform. But his promise remains just that until he does what he said he would do.”

Candidate Biden promised a wholesale reform of the pardon system with a special White House commission deciding applications. In the first month of his presidency, hopes ran high that he would be taking decisive action to clean up a process that had left over 14,000 clemency applications languishing at the DOJ. But now, with over 18,000 applications awaiting action, we are no closer to a plan for dealing with them.

EQUAL Act (H.R. 1062)

EQUAL Act (S. 524)

Ripon Advance, Armstrong unveils bill to end federal sentencing disparity for cocaine offenses (February 22, 2023 )

Marijuana Moment, GOP Congressional Lawmakers Tout Poll Showing Republican Voters Back Federal Marijuana Legalization (February 23, 2023)

Reason, Four Months After Biden Promised Marijuana Pardons, He Has Not Issued Any (February 16, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

They Begged His Pardon: Biden Finally Grants Short List at Year’s End – Update for January 5, 2023

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BIDEN GRANTS HANDFUL OF PARDONS

Maybe I was too hasty in criticizing President Biden last week for granting no Christmas clemency petitions, with about 18,000 petitions for commutation or pardon pending (many for years).

pardon160321Biden finally issued pardons to six people last Friday, four for various low-level drug offenses, one for the illegal sale of whiskey, and one to an 80-year-old woman who killed her husband 47 years ago. Three of the crimes had occurred at least a quarter century ago, and the fourth – an Air Force enlisted man convicted of taking (but not distributing) Ecstasy – happened about 20 years ago.

The White House statement said the pardoned people had served sentences and “demonstrated a commitment to improving their communities and the lives of those around them.”

The pardons came on the last business day of the year. In October, Biden pardoned thousands of unnamed people convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law. In April, Biden granted three pardons and granted 75 commutations.

Two of the five pardoned last week served about two years in prison. Three of the other four served under a year, and the last one got probation.

At trial, the woman who killed her husband – convicted under District of Columbia law – was denied the right to argue that he had beaten her. Her appeal, the White House said, “marked one of the first significant steps toward judicial recognition of battered woman syndrome, and her case has been the subject of numerous academic studies.”

clemencyjack161229Two years into Biden’s Administration, the theme of his clemency policy seems to be that pardons will issue, favoring very simple drug and politically-preferred offenses, when the crime happened a long time ago.  Commutations – which require actually letting people out of prison – seem to be disfavored by this White House.

A day before the pardon announcement, White House Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice said that Biden’s marijuana pardons and scheduling directive were among the administration’s top accomplishments in 2022. Biden issued a scheduling review order in October directing the Dept of Health and Human Services to consider rescheduling pot to a lower-level controlled substance.

Associated Press, Biden pardons 6 convicted of murder, drug, alcohol crimes (December 30, 2022)

White House, Clemency Recipient List (December 30, 2022)

Ibn-Thomas v. United States, 407 A.2d 626 (1979)

Marijuana Moment, Top White House Official Lists Biden’s Marijuana Pardons And Scheduling Review Among Top 2022 Administration Achievements (December 30, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

No Clemency from Santa Biden This Year – Update for December 29, 2022

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LISAStatHeader2small-newyear

CHRISTMAS CLEMENCIES ARE A BUST

Congress is not the only underperforming branch of government this year. So far this month, President Biden granted traditional year-end clemencies to the following:

_________________
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clemency170206That’s right… to no one.

Last week, sentencing law experts (and law professors) Mark Osler and Rachel Barkow took Biden to task for using the tool of clemency for symbolism rather than substance, while ignoring clemency’s official process.” Saying that he has acted like former President Trump, Osler and Barkow – writing in the New York Daily News – complained that while 17,000 petitions (it’s closer to 18,000) have piled up — a “historic backlog — and many petitioners have been waiting for answers for five years or more.”

Osler and Barkow wrote that “like Trump, Biden has simply ignored those thousands of people waiting for consideration of their heartfelt pleas for clemency; in fact, he has failed to deny a single petition by presidential action even as the pile has grown into a tower. While many clemency petitions are worthy, many others are obviously not, and it shouldn’t be hard to say “no” to the weakest petitions. Like Trump before him, Biden seems either frozen in inaction or just doesn’t care.”

Biden’s commutation so far of 82 people for nonviolent offenses (and the vague pardons to unnamed marijuana possessors) “are more about signaling and politics than helping real people,” Barkow and Osler said.

clemency220418For all of the Biden Administration’s hand-wringing over retroactively remedying the crack-powder sentencing disparity that was embraced by the failed EQUAL Act (S.79), MSNBC reported last week, “Biden, who supported the proposed legislation, could remedy these past injustices with clemency, but he hasn’t done so, despite issuing pardons ahead of the midterm elections for cannabis possession.”

NY Daily News, Biden’s cowardice on clemency (December 20, 2022)

MSNBC, Racist war on drugs is the real winner of Congress’s massive spending bill (December 23, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

LISAStatHeader2small-newyear

Pardoning Turkeys, Not People – Update for December 1, 2022

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BIDEN TURKEY PARDONS DRAW CRITICISM

President Joe Biden continued a 75-year tradition last week, pardoning a pair of North Carolina turkeys named Chocolate and Chip after his favorite flavor of ice cream.

turkeypardon221201“The votes are in, they’ve been counted and verified,” Biden said, granting the pardons. “There’s no ballot stuffing. There’s no fowl play.”

Vote counting apparently did not include the over 18,000 people whose applications for pardons or commutations are piled up at the Dept. of Justice Pardon Attorney’s office.

Ohio State University law professor Doug Berman, writing in his Sentencing Law and Policy blog, referred to the ceremony as “the annual turkey pardon silliness at the White House.”

clemencybacklog190904Reason magazine was not much kinder to Biden’s clemency for those convicted of simple marijuana possession announced in October. The mass pardon was “an example of all hat and no cattle,” Reason said. “‘I’m keeping my promise that no one should be in jail for merely using or possessing marijuana,’ [Biden] said in October. ‘None…’ But not a single person was released from custody by the Bureau of Prisons due to Biden’s proclamation… The presidential pardon power can and should be used more often. Not just for turkeys, but for the thousands of people serving decades due to draconian drug laws that Biden supported for most of his political career.”

Associated Press, Biden opens holidays, pardons turkeys Chocolate and Chip (November 21, 2022)

Sentencing Law and Policy, Does Prez Biden’s clemency record in 2022 deserve some praise on the day of turkey pardons? (November 21, 2022)

Reason, Pardon People, Not Turkeys (November 23, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

Biden Marijuana Clemency Brings Forth a Mouse – Update for October 11, 2022

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BIDEN’S PENURIOUS POT PARDONS

mountainmouse221011President Biden last Thursday pardoned thousands of people convicted of simple possession of marijuana (a 21 USC § 844 offense) and said his administration would review whether marijuana should still be a Schedule I drug like heroin and LSD.

The pardons will clear everyone convicted on federal charges of simple possession in the last thirty years. They will help remove obstacles for people trying to get a job, find housing, apply to college or get federal benefits. Announced a month before the midterm elections, the pardons could help fire up the Democratic supporters.

But they won’t free a single federal inmate.

Officials said full data was not available but noted that about 6,500 people were convicted of simple possession between 1992 and 2021. Only 92 people were sentenced on federal marijuana possession charges in 2017, out of nearly 20,000 drug convictions, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. And not a one of them is currently in prison.

You may recall a Biden spokeswoman said in May 2021 that the Administration anticipated starting granting clemency under a new, improved process just before the midterm elections. There’s no sign of a better commutation process anywhere, and as for the clemency list, Aesop would have said, “The mountain has labored and brought forth a mouse.”

Administration officials said there are no people now serving time in federal prisons solely for marijuana possession. The pardon does not cover convictions for possession of other drugs, or for 21 USC § 841 or § 960 charges relating to growing or possessing marijuana with an intent to distribute. Biden also is not pardoning non-citizens who were in the U.S. without legal status at the time of their arrest.

Biden stopped short of calling for the complete decriminalization of marijuana, which is something that Congress would have to do (and could do if the Senate passes the MORE Act). In fact, he largely seems skeptical of marijuana, despite his announcement. He warned that “[e]ven as federal and local regulations of marijuana change, important limitations on trafficking, marketing, and under-age sales should stay in place.”

marijuanahell190918However, he directed his Administration to review how marijuana is legally categorized, which drives the level of sentence. “The federal government currently classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance,” he said, “the same as heroin and LSD and more serious than fentanyl. It makes no sense.”

The Dept of Justice stated, “In coming days, the Office of the Pardon Attorney will begin implementing a process to provide impacted individuals with certificates of pardon. Also, in accordance with the President’s directive, Justice Department officials will work with our colleagues at the Department of Health and Human Services as they launch a scientific review of how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.”

The Washington Post said, “The Biden administration review of marijuana’s classification level, to be led by Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Attorney General Merrick Garland, could address long-standing questions over whether the possession of marijuana should ultimately be decriminalized at the federal level.”

Vox reported that Nishant Reddy, a former advisor to Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) on cannabis policy, said, “We’re just a few weeks away from midterm elections, so I do think there’s a little bit of strategic political play with this… That being said, it’s an exciting step in the right direction for those who are facing the negative consequences of unfair policing regarding cannabis.”

Attorney David Holland, executive director of Empire State NORML, sees it as Biden working toward cementing his progressive legacy rather than attempting to gain voter support.

“Biden doesn’t stand to gain anything by it, per se. This is only the midterm; he’s got another couple years to go. I think he’s trying to align himself with progressive politics that undo at least some of the harms of the drug war, and to set up a platform for two years from now that shows him to be a leader in causes relating to equity, justice, economic development, and so on.”

marijuana-dc211104Holland believes the more meaningful part of Biden’s announcement is the review and possible change in the federal status of cannabis as a controlled substance. “He’s setting the stage for future action,” says Holland. “There is definitely a paradigm shift coming over the next two years going into the 2024 election.”

Forbes last Friday quoted Andrew Freedman, executive director of the nonprofit Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education and Regulation, as saying, “This could lead to a full descheduling, but I highly doubt that’s where it would end up. It’s more likely that the process ends up reclassifying marijuana as Schedule II, along with fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine, or perhaps Schedule III. If Congress decides to act, it could remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and regulate it like alcohol and tobacco.”

“It’s a good sign that the Biden Administration is acknowledging that the current status quo is nonsensical,” says Freedman. “But I don’t think they’ve laid out a complete vision of where we go from here. There are current state markets that are operating; how do we catch up to that?”

While on the campaign trail, Biden said that marijuana should be decriminalized and that records should be expunged. Earlier this year, Biden granted nine people with federal marijuana offenses clemency.

Maritza Perez, director of the Drug Policy Alliance’s Office of Federal Affairs, said there should be fuller relief for people, including resentencing, expungement and removing immigration consequences. “It’s a step in the right direction, but definitely does not do enough to really help repair the harms of the drug war,” she said.

clemency170206Some federal inmates were harsher: “Federal marijuana inmates say they’re shocked that President Biden’s mass-pardon for pot offenders doesn’t actually help them — telling The Post that the historic clemency amounts to a “rancid” pre-midterm elections stunt and a “slap in the face” that fails to do what Biden promised as a candidate.

There are about 2,700 federal pot inmates, according to a recent congressional estimate, but none will get out because Biden’s pardon applies only to the roughly 6,500 people convicted federally of simple possession, of whom none are in prison, and to unknown thousands more convicted under local DC law.

One inmate told the Post that inmates at FMC Fort Worth “started cheering for us in here for weed” until “the initial glee turned into yet another let-down.”

“Biden fed us rancid hamburger and the media is celebrating as if he served up filet mignon,” an FCI Fort Dix inmate, whose 16-1/2 year marijuana conspiracy sentence ends in 2031, told the Post.

Amy Povah, founder of the CAN-DO Foundation, which advocates for clemency for non-violent offenders, told The Post, “I’m elated for [Biden’s] pardon recipients,” but “I can’t wait for those who are currently incarcerated and have survived a historic pandemic under tortuous conditions to get the relief they were promised, as well.”

mario170628Michael Pelletier, a 66-year-old wheelchair-bound paraplegic who got clemency from Trump, told The Post, “It breaks my heart knowing there are still people serving life without parole for cannabis. I hope Biden will free all pot prisoners because I personally know several people who voted for him based on that campaign promise alone.”

New York Times, Biden Pardons Thousands Convicted of Marijuana Possession Under Federal Law (October 6, 2022)

Associated Press, Biden pardons thousands for ‘simple possession’ of marijuana (October 7, 2022)

LISA, Biden To Ask Fox To Advise On Emptying Henhouse (May 26, 2021)

Washington Post, Your questions answered about Biden’s marijuana pardon announcement (October 7, 2022)\

Dept of Justice, Justice Department Statement on President’s Announcements Regarding Simple Possession of Marijuana (October 6, 2022)

Vox, The most important part of Biden’s surprise marijuana announcement (October 8, 2022)

USA Today, Many Americans arrested for marijuana won’t find relief under Biden’s pardon plan (October 7, 2022)

Forbes, President Biden Says It’s Time To Change America’s Cannabis Laws (October 7, 2022)

New York Post, ‘Slap in the face’: Pot inmates call Biden mass-pardon ‘rancid’ election ruse (October 7, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

What Does Oyer Plan To Do About the Backlog? – Update for May 26, 2022

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WHAT WILL NEW PARDON ATTORNEY DO WITH CLEMENCY BACKLOG, LEGISLATORS WANT TO KNOW

A bipartisan group of representatives has demanded information from Elizabeth Oyer, the new Pardon Attorney, about her plans for processing the 17,400-strong backlog of clemency petitions pending (some for years).

paperwork171019“The growing backlog of clemency petitions undermines the promise of a fair and just criminal legal system,” Representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), David Joyce (R-OH), and Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) wrote in a letter last week to Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer. “Every application represents a person, a family, and a community. And every delayed response represents a miscarriage of justice, a dysfunctional process, and a policy failure in desperate need of repair.”

The letter demanded a full report from Oyer by June 7 that includes “applicant demographic data (including age, race/ethnicity, gender, parental status, state of residence, incarceration status), month and year of application submission, representation by an attorney, type of clemency request, type of relief sought, type of offense(s), and office currently reviewing application.”

Bloomberg, Lawmakers Press DOJ on Backlog of 17,000 Clemency Petitions (May 18, 2022)

Letter to Elizabeth Oyer (May 17, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root