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In yet another example of why we’re going to miss him in a little over a month, President Joe Biden set a record today for the most acts of presidential clemency in a single day. Biden pardoned 39 people convicted of non-violent federal crimes and commuted the remaining sentences of nearly 1,500 others who were let out of prison to reduce crowding during the COVID pandemic and were serving out their sentences on home confinement. A White House fact sheet said that the folks whose sentences were commuted had all “successfully reintegrated into their families and communities” after serving at least a year of home confinement. And now they’re free to be productive citizens and all that, even though Republicans have been pushing for them to be re-imprisoned, for reasons.
We’d like to think the commutations somehow involved Biden pushing a big red button that made 1,500 ankle monitors just drop off and go “CLUNK” on 1,500 floors, but we’re pretty sure that’s not how it really works. Good scene for a movie, though.
Remarkably, not a single one of those who received clemency is known to be a war criminal given loving coverage on Fox News, a business or political friend of the president or his family, or a member of the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
And no, none of those granted clemency were Biden’s son Hunter, either, because a) that was last week’s news, and b) while some Republicans have certainly expressed interest in lock-her-upping the people released during the pandemic, none of those folks’ names are bandied around in the rightwing mediasphere as if they were Public Enemy Number One, and there really wouldn’t have been any political benefit in Republicans spending the next four years trying to target them for the sake of hammering Joe Biden. Heck, we bet that none of those to whom Biden granted clemency were even on Kash Patel’s Enemies List.
We can safely predict that if Fox News covers today’s pardons and commutations at all, it’ll be mostly about Hunter anyway, with perhaps some sneering about how many of those pardoned were convicted on drug charges, but with no mention of how they have since turned their lives around.
In a statement, Biden said, “America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” noting that many of those whose sentences he commuted “would receive lower sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices” and demonstrated that they deserve a second chance.” He added that he will take additional steps in coming weeks as the administration reviews more requests for clemency.
Biden also emphasized that the pardon power is about “extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation,” which stood out to us because while that’s a very conventional description of pardon criteria, it plainly doesn’t apply to unrepentant thugs who organized or took part in an insurrection, and who pretend that their violence against the Constitution was some kind of patriotism.
As NPR notes, the White House also released brief biographies of the 39 people Biden pardoned, and they sound like they successfully did that “turn your life around” thing that American justice often praises but seldom actually provides a lot of chances for.
Most committed non-violent drug offenses in their late teens and early 20s. Many served in the U.S. military and all are active in their communities, either through church or volunteer work — including helping others with addiction recovery and navigating life after incarceration.
For example, Terence Anthony Jackson of Seattle was noted for volunteering as a barber for children in need. He works in the legal industry and is pursuing a degree, the White House said.
We only skimmed the list, but it sure looks to us like the 39 recipients of pardons may have gotten better educations in and after prison, and have certainly done more to help people in need, than most of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees. Quite a few veterans, too, although since none of them have embarrassed the services on Fox News, none will likely be nominated to be secretary of Defense.
We wish all those pardoned and all those who had their sentences commuted success in their new lives, and we’re certain they’ll mostly do far more good with their second chances than another convicted felon who’s not only unrepentant, but plans to use high office to carry out a vendetta against those he believes have wronged him.
Oh, shoot, and we were aiming for Nice Time, there. Forget I made any comparisons.
OPEN THREAD.
[White House fact sheet / White House statement / NPR]
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