presidential pardons explained : NPR

The topic of presidential pardons is back in the spotlight this week after President Biden announced he had signed a “full and unconditional” pardon for his son.

Hunter Biden was convicted earlier this year on federal gun charges for lying about his crack cocaine addiction when purchasing a gun, as well as tax crimes for failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes. But he pleaded guilty. Judgments in both cases were expected to be handed down later this month.

The president publicly said he would not pardon his son, but then backtracked on that promise. Sunday’s announcement In it, he accused prosecutors of being unfair and selective.

Mr. Biden has accused his opponents in Congress of inciting Mr. Hunter’s indictment and of scuttling his planned plea deal due to political pressure, but the special counsel leading the firearms investigation said: Denies facing political interference.

“No reasonable person considering the facts of Mr. Hunter’s case could come to any other conclusion than that Mr. Hunter was chosen solely because he is my son,” Biden said in a statement. .

Biden added: “I believe in the justice system, but as I’ve worked on this issue, I also believe that raw politics has infected this process and that has led to miscarriages of justice.” “I hope the American people understand why our father and president is making this decision.”

Biden’s decision drew criticism from both sides.

First, even though the charges against Hunter Biden and Trump, the first president to be convicted of a felony, are vastly different, his rationale is that Donald Trump’s rationale is that the Justice Department is politicized. This is very similar to Trump’s argument. Trump was charged with attempting to overturn the 2020 election and endangering national security through handling classified documents, but both charges were dismissed after he won the 2024 election.

President Trump quickly denounced Biden’s pardon as an “abuse and misuse of justice.” Even some Democrats, including the governor of Colorado. Jared PolisArizona State Representative. greg stanton and Colorado Sen. michael bennett— publicly condemned Biden’s decision. They warned that this could set a dangerous precedent, especially ahead of the return of President Trump, who has vowed to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters and baselessly suggested he might pardon himself. .

“Joe Biden put himself above his country and just forgave his son.” Joe Walsh tweeteda former Republican lawmaker who was anti-Trump and supported Biden. “And that self-interest took the ‘no one is above the law’ argument against Trump off the table.”

Presidential pardons have been common since the days of George Washington, who pardoned two people convicted of treason. Whiskey Rebellion. Over the years, many things have been a cause for celebration as well as controversy.

What is an amnesty?

The president’s pardon power is inspired by early English law that gave the king the “prerogative of mercy.”

Article 2, Paragraph 2 of the constitution Authorizes the President to “grant reprieves and pardons for crimes against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”

“The U.S. Constitution gives the president of the United States the so-called unilateral pardon power,” he explains. Lauren Brooke EisenSenior Director of the Brennan Center’s Justice Program. “Generosity can be considered that umbrella term.”

Pardons include the granting of clemency, reprieve, commutation of sentence, and clemency, which are the broadest forms of relief.

A complete pardon frees the person from punishment and restores them to their former status. civil libertiesincluding the right to vote, hold office, and serve on a jury.

“Liberacy is the very expression of mercy, which often mitigates the highly punitive, harsh, and unfair outcomes that our criminal justice system produces,” Eisen says.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that the president’s pardon power is relatively broad, extending to “all crimes known to law” and “available at any time thereafter.” [a crime’s] to the Commission either before, during the pendency of, or after conviction and sentencing of legal proceedings; ” Congressional Research Service (CRS).

In rare cases, the president even pardons someone who has not been charged with a crime. After Watergate, Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter pardoned most people. Vietnam War draft evaderboth charged and uncharged.

The only limitations, at least according to the Constitution, are that the president can only grant pardons for federal criminal offenses, not for state or civil offenses, and that pardons can be granted in cases of impeachment. This means that it is not possible to give

How have pardons typically been used?

President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon soon after taking office in 1974, and many historians attribute that to his loss in the presidential election two years later.

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The president has granted pardons for all sorts of federal crimes, from marijuana possession to mail fraud to murder. Somewhere along the way, they began forgiving the Thanksgiving turkey in an effort to keep it off the table.

Some pardons have involved celebrities: Andrew Johnson pardoned the doctor He treated John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and treated thousands of Confederate soldiers and officials after the Civil War.

warren harding Pardoned Socialist Party leader Eugene Debs Richard Nixon pardoned after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for expressing opposition to World War I Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa He was serving a 15-year prison sentence for jury tampering and fraud.

More recently, the report said, more than 3,000 pardons were granted in the 40-year period from the start of the Ronald Reagan administration to the end of the Barack Obama administration. White House Historical Society.

However, the number of pardons granted varies widely from president to president.

According to the paper, President Obama has granted more pardons than any two-term president since the mid-20th century (1,927, including 212 pardons). Pew Research Center. George W. Bush issued the fewest with 200, including 189 pardons.

Trump granted 237 pardons during his first term, including 143 pardons and 94 commutations. Although his use of powers was relatively rare compared to many of his predecessors, it was highly controversial as most of the people he helped had some kind of problem. personal or political connections To him.

Has the president ever pardoned a relative?

Biden became the third president to pardon a relative.

On his last day in office in 2001, President Bill Clinton granted a pardon. half-brother, RogerPleaded guilty and spent a year in prison on drug charges.

It was one of a whopping 140 pardons issued by Mr. Clinton that day, and the least controversial.

he received more criticism forgive marc richa disgraced investor who fled to Switzerland after being charged with tax evasion of more than $48 million. Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, had donated more than $1 million to the Democratic Party and the Clinton presidential library. raise a question And the Justice Department’s pardon investigation ultimately found no wrongdoing by Clinton.

President Trump also issued a flurry of pardons (74 years old, to be exact) in the final hours of his first term, including pardoning former chief strategist Steve Bannon, rapper Lil Wayne, and a Fox News commentator. They included Jeanine Pirro’s ex-husband Al Pirro.

He has previously been indicted on a variety of crimes, including Republican operative Roger Stone, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and Charles Kushner, a senior adviser and father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner. He pardoned many members of his inner circle. .

Charles Kushner, himself a real estate billionaire, pleaded guilty in 2004 to filing a false tax return, lying to the Federal Election Commission and retaliating against his brother-in-law, a witness. Ta.

The case, prosecuted by then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, led to Kushner attempting an elaborate extortion scheme against his brother-in-law and former employee William Schulder, who was a witness for federal prosecutors. . He hired a prostitute to sleep with Schulder, secretly videotaped the encounter, and mailed the recording to Schulder’s wife (his own sister), who turned it over to authorities.

Kushner served nearly two years in prison before being released in 2006, and Trump cited his record of philanthropy as “reform and charity” when pardoning Kushner in 2020. I’m going to nominate Charles Kushner. He will serve as ambassador to France.

How does Hunter’s pardon fit into Biden’s pardon record?

Biden granted a pardon. 25 people He issued 132 commutations during his tenure, according to Justice Department data. He granted clemency to many more, including the entire group.

In 2022, he took executive action to pardon more than 6,500 people convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal and D.C. law, but expanded that scope last year. Earlier this year, the United States granted full amnesty to LGBTQ+ service members who were expelled from the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Still, Eisen says there is much more Biden can do before the end of his term, including addressing the more than 8,000 clemency petitions pending before his administration.

The Brennan Center, which describes itself as a nonpartisan law and policy group, is among the groups urging the president to commute all death sentences to life in prison without parole.

Last month, more than 60 members of Congress wrote a letter to Biden He urged people to use their powers to “help a wide range of people and cases, including the elderly and chronically ill, people on death row, people facing unfair sentencing disparities, and women punished for protecting themselves from their abusers.” I asked for it.

While Biden’s latest, and most personal, pardon has garnered attention, Eisen also used the opportunity to extend the message to many others who are already serving what she calls over-sentences. He hopes to be granted a similar pardon.

“President Biden has until January 20 to issue pardons to thousands of eligible pardon candidates currently in federal prison,” Eisen said. “So we have plenty of time.”