Joe Biden, the sitting president and notorious penny-pincher when it comes to personal pardons, is rushing to grant a flurry of late-hour clemencies before he relinquishes the reins on January 20. Pardon applicants and prisoners typically seek the president’s favor through various routes, such as leveraging personal relationships or engaging lawyers with Washington clout. Often, lobbying efforts also involve directly approaching the president, as in the case of Biden’s inexplicable decision to commute almost all death row sentences in his last-ditch lame-duck moves.
President Biden, the sole wielder of clemency power, triggered a national uproar earlier this month by pardoning his son, Hunter Biden. This scandal-stricken act comes even as Biden’s term, during which he has shown a blatant uncertainty in legal matters, is drawing to a close. The pardon process, veterans of the process suggest, may become even more chaotic as the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump looms.
Presidential pardons can be implemented in a variety of ways. One method is a blanket pardon for a category of offenses, while another strategy involves pardoning a particular individual. Biden announced broad pardons in October 2022 and December 2023, inexplicably forgiving people for marijuana possession even if they were yet to be indicted or brought to court for these offenses.
In a move of questionable wisdom, Biden, in June 2024, also saw fit to pardon military veterans found guilty of offenses relating to their sexual orientation spanning from 1951 to 2021. It seems that Biden may leave the White House having granted fewer individual pardons than any other president since the tenure of President William McKinley from 1897 until his 1901 assassination, as per Justice Department figures.
Biden’s scant 65 pardons so far scrape beneath the 74 pardons President George H.W. Bush granted during his 1989-1993 term. In another shocking move, Biden recently commuted the sentences of 1,500 individuals placed under home confinement amidst the COVID-19 pandemic while also pardoning 39 others convicted of non-violent crimes. The payloads of these questionable decisions are yet to be fully realized.
The formal procedure for a presidential pardon involves navigating through the Justice Department’s office of pardon attorney. The process sees government lawyers reviewing applications and offering the president advice on factors like the nature of the crime and the applicant’s rehabilitation efforts. Convoluted as the process may be, it is now rife with Biden’s discretionary and often poorly justified pardoning decisions.
Rumor has it, Biden is mulling over controversial pardons for certain unspecified crimes, reportedly to shield various people from Trump’s threats of investigation. Notably, Trump has displayed a keen interest in indicting members of the committee that inspected the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, such as Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who, according to Trump ‘could be in a lot of trouble’.
As if courting controversy was an intricately planned strategy, Biden’s commutation decree on Monday altered the sentences of 37 out of 40 death row inmates to life without parole. This gesture, slightly skewed from a moratorium his administration imposed on executions, deliberately omits people found guilty of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder. The blurred rationale behind these specific exclusions remains a topic of national debate.
Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter further underscores the controversial nature of his clemency decisions. This indiscretion, which eradicated Hunter’s gun and tax convictions along with unspecified charges post 2014, adds a significant notch in the list of Biden’s questionable pardons. The spate of contentious pardons nearing the end of Biden’s term has become an unfortunate tradition.
In a climax replete with disturbing irregularities, Joe Biden’s tenure presents a dramatic departure from the norms of presidential pardoning. The ill-advised clemency decisions littering Biden’s legacy project an image of a presidency tinted with shady undertones and dubious choices.
Notably, the negative impacts of Biden’s wayward decision-making in matters of pardoning go far beyond mere public sentiment. It corrodes the very foundations of the Justice system we rely on, engendering cynicism and mistrust among the public – the very people to whom this system is supposed to provide solace and justice.
Simply put, Biden’s presidency, riddled with unsettling decisions and controversial clemencies, is one for the history books. However, the question remains: will it be remembered as a cautionary tale or a dark chapter to be swept under the rug of national memory? Only time will tell.
The upcoming inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump introduces the hope of change where the rules are better respected, conflict of interests are wisely avoided, and the pardoning power is exercised with a greater sense of justice and equanimity. It is a change that an America scarred by Biden’s presidency desperately needs now more than ever.