The Skinny on the Pardon

The Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy sends out a secrecy newsletter from time to time that is chock full of great stuff. Among some of the better stuff is the public release of Congressional Research Service reports, which the Congress refuses to release to the taxpaying public.

Included in the Friday, January 16 newsletter was a recent CRS report on the pardon power, since it has received some attention recently due to a controversial pardon decision by the President a couple of weeks ago. As well as what potential pardons lay ahead as the President prepares to leave office on Tuesday (on that note, I encourage you, if you get the chance, to read Christopher Buckley's White House Mess. The opening is a classic--the president who has is leaving office decides he is not ready to leave come January 20).

But I digress. The recent pardon controversy involved President Bush withdrawing a pardon to someone who had just been given one. Days before Christmas, President Bush blanket pardoned 19 people, including one to Isaac R. Toussie, who was a real estate developer in New York City who plead guilty to mail fraud and using false documents in order to receive government insured mortgages. Toussie, who had just recently been released from prison, was technically not eligible for a pardon. He received one after a former Bush counselor by-passed the Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney and went directly to the White House to plead his case. A day after he had gotten his pardon, the White House revoked it after word got out that his father had just donated nearly $30,000 to the Republican National Committee for use in the 08 election cycle. The question on everyone's mind was whether a president could revoke a pardon, and if so, had it every been done before?

In walks the CRS. In a nine page report titled "An Overview of the Presidential Pardoning Power," Vanessa Burrows explains that on March 3, 1869--technically the last day of President Andrew Johnson's beleagured presidency--Johnson issued a pardon which was revoked three days later by incoming President Ulysses S. Grant. A district court in New York addressed the lawsuit by the person whose pardon had been revoked, and concluded that the pardon could be withdrawn because it had "not yet been delivered to the grantee, a person on his behalf, or to the official with exclusive custody and control over him." In the current case, the names of the individuals had been announced, but there had been no official contact between the administration and those receiving a pardon. All President Bush had done was to tell the Pardon Attorney to hold off on giving the pardon until more information could be obtained. It raises the specter that the pardon could still end up going through.

Magnum Opus

Representative John Conyers (D. MI), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has just issued a monster report, pulling together all of the Judiciary Committee's hearings on abuses in the Bush administration. Titled "Reining in the Imperial Presidency: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the presidency of George W. Bush," it looks at various actions undertaken by the administration--from signing statements to National Security Letters--that it regards as abusive and urges the Obama administration to take note.

But be warned. It is not for the meek of heart. Coming in at just 500 pages, it has it all. I could complain that it refers to only research that has built on my research, but I won't. I did at least get a shout out as a "signing statement expert" (psst: it's on pg. 187).