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“Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden said [last] Thursday that he was pardoning 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes and commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 others who were serving long prison terms… The commutations announced were for those who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate the spread of the virus.” Reuters
“A judge who helped orchestrate one of the worst judicial scandals in U.S.history — a scheme to send children to for-profit jails in exchange for kickbacks — was among the 1,500 people whose sentences were commuted… Biden’s decision to commute the 17-year prison sentence of Michael Conahan angered many in northeastern Pennsylvania, from the governor to the families whose children were victimized by the disgraced former judge.” AP News
Meanwhile, “Senator Bernie Sanders believes President Joe Biden should contemplate issuing preemptive pardons to members of the January 6 House Select Committee in light of President-elect Donald Trump's threats to prosecute them. ‘I think he might want to consider that very seriously,’ the Vermont senator said on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday…
“His statement was in response to an interview Trump had with NBC journalist Kristen Welker on December 8, who asked the president-elect whether his administration would ‘pursue’ individuals such as Liz Cheney, Senator Adam Schiff or former chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci. ‘I think those people committed a major crime,’ Trump told Welker, ‘and [Liz] Cheney was behind it, and so was Bennie Thompson and everybody on that committee.’… Biden is reportedly considering preemptive pardons for several individuals.” Newsweek
Many on all sides are critical of Conahan’s commutation:
“Joe Biden issued a blanket pardon this week to 1500 or or so convicts who got released to home detention during the pandemic. The White House wanted to set a record, apparently, but they also wanted to prevent the incoming administration from returning them back to traditional penitentiary custody. Unfortunately for Biden, he didn't pay much attention to the actual records of those whose sentences he commuted…
“The 17 years Conahan got doesn't come close to measuring up to the years they cost these children. And now Conahan is off the hook entirely after barely serving a decade in prison… There may have been people who truly deserved these commutations in the mass grant, but Conahan isn't one of them -- and there will no doubt be others where mercy seems out of joint to their offenses.”
Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
“When I reached out to the White House, an administration official said this wasn’t a case-by-case decision. The Biden team set broad criteria, and Conahan matched them. The plan was clemency for nonviolent offenders who were seen as low-risk and had been released to home confinement after a legal review process. That explanation isn’t going down well with many in Pennsylvania…
“For Biden, this is another unforced error… Such dubious grants of presidential mercy reinforce a belief that America has a two-tiered justice system where the wealthy and connected fare much better than everyone else — and certainly better than the young people who came before Judges Conahan and Ciavarella in Luzerne County.”
Heather Long, Washington Post
“Racketeering is a nonviolent crime under federal guidelines, but the White House had the discretion—and should have had the common sense—to recognize that the outcome of this nasty little scheme was subjecting minors to state-sanctioned violence through excessive incarceration. He deprived young men and women of their liberty to line his pockets…
“This is the sort of foot-dragging and face-planting routine that has defined the Biden administration's approach to criminal justice reform. It's a shame the White House's carelessness will cloud the grants of clemency for hundreds of other deserving recipients.”
C.J. Ciaramella, Reason
Other opinions below.
Some argue, “After being caught [Conahan] was sentenced to 17 years in prison… 17 years! The fact that this probably didn't shock you shows just how inured we've become to ever more absurd sentencing. That's a massive sentence, even for a monstrous crime… Save your shock for the fact that Biden's commutations affected only 1,500 prisoners rather than the 90% of the prison population they should have.”
Kevin Drum, Jabberwocking
Regarding preemptive pardons, “President George W. Bush pardoned an array of Iran-Contra figures, and Trump himself pardoned several of his former aides. But it is also true that the scope and pre-emptive nature of these proposed pardons is new. They are only unprecedented, however, because the nature of the threat is equally unprecedented…
“Trump, Patel and others have made it clear that they intend to use the Department of Justice, and the FBI more specifically, to go after their political enemies, even though they haven’t pointed to any specific laws their opponents have broken. That’s because no laws have been broken… Now, if Trump’s enemies are innocent, what do they have to be afraid of? Plenty…
“They will be arrested. Their homes will be searched. Their privacy will be violated. They will face legal bills, which can easily run to hundreds of thousands of dollars, and will have to spend months defending themselves in court instead of living their lives freely. And they will be harassed, threatened and trolled by the swarms of zealous partisans on Elon Musk’s propaganda platform… Kneecapping Trump’s vindictive plans will protect the rule of law, not undermine it.”
Jay Michaelson, MSNBC
“Pre-emptive pardons could become the norm as presidents pardon whole categories of allies and even themselves to foreclose federal prosecutions. It will give presidents cover to wipe away any threat of prosecution for friends, donors and associates… It could easily become the final act of every president to pardon himself and all of the members of his administration. We would then have an effective government immunity rule that comes with service in the executive branch…
“Ironically, there is even less need for such pre-emptive pardons after the Supreme Court recognized that presidents are immune for many decisions made during their presidencies. Likewise, members of Congress have robust constitutional protections for their work under Article I, as do journalists and pundits under the First Amendment of the Constitution. We have gone more than two centuries without such blanket immunity.”
Jonathan Turley, New York Post
“Never in the history of the republic has an entire class of people been pre-pardoned for crimes for which they have not yet been investigated, much less indicted. Such a preemptive pardon not only signals a lack of confidence in the fairness of our justice system; it’s also an invitation for Trump to do the same…
“This is how republics unravel. When one faction justifies violating the rules in anticipation of the other side doing the same, after a while all the old rules that preserved stability, the peaceful transfer of power, and the independence of the justice system will be so degraded as to be meaningless.”
Eli Lake, Free Press
