The Justice Department already lost a lower court decision that ordered the government to make the list available to a former Washington Post reporter, George Lardner, who is working on a book about the history of clemency. Government lawyers have appealed to an appellate court in Washington, DC, but losing the next round could result in the Justice Department having to release the names of those who sought pardons and clemency during other administrations.

 

Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. served in the Justice Department during the Clinton years and was involved in the decision to pardon fugitive Marc Rich, which caused Holder no shortage of embarrassment during his confirmation hearing.

 

President Bush granted 189 pardons to people who had already served their sentences and commuted (or shortened) the sentences of eleven others, ten of whom had been convicted of drug-related offenses. The eleventh, and most famous, was Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who was sentenced to 30 months in prison for obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements to federal investigators in the case of the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Bush commuted Libby’s sentence before he began to serve it.

 

President Barack Obama has not issued a single pardon or commuted anyone’s sentence since taking office. His administration has reportedly received 382 pardon petitions and 2,275 applications for commutation since October 2009. These totals are in addition to another 2,000 pending petitions.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Justice Department Wants to Keep Pardon Data Under Wraps (by Mike Scarcella,