Felons ask Bush for pardons, commutations
Flurry of requests adding to backlog of nearly 2,300
WASHINGTON - Felons are asking President Bush for pardons and commutations at historic levels as he nears his final months in office, a time when many other presidents have granted a flurry of clemency requests.
Among the petitioners is Michael Milken, the billionaire former junk bond king-turned-philanthropist, who is seeking a pardon for his 1990 conviction for securities fraud, the Justice Department said. Milken sought a pardon eight years ago from President Clinton and submitted a new petition in June.
In addition, prominent federal inmates are asking Bush to commute their sentences. Among them are Randy Cunningham, the former Republican representative from California; Edwin W. Edwards, a former Democratic governor of Louisiana; John Walker Lindh, the so-called American Taliban; and Marion Jones, the former Olympic sprinter.
The requests are adding to a backlog of nearly 2,300 pending petitions, most from "ordinary people who committed garden-variety crimes," said Margaret Colgate Love, a clemency lawyer.
Love, who was the US pardon attorney from 1990 to 1997, said the backlog was overwhelming the vetting system, meaning that many petitions might not reach Bush's desk before he leaves office.
"I have cases that date from the Clinton administration," Love said. "I have cases that I filed in the last two or three years and have not even gotten any word about the first step of the investigation being authorized. It's unbelievable."
A Justice Department office with about half-a-dozen officials reviews petitions and recommends whether requests should be granted, although presidents are free to disregard its views. Under the Constitution, Bush can issue a commutation, which reduces a sentence, or a pardon, which forgives an offense and erases the criminal record, to anyone.
But even if a felon's petition reaches the Oval Office, legal specialists said that most of those seeking mercy from Bush should expect to be disappointed.
The Bush administration took office amid heavy criticism of Clinton's last-minute pardons, most notably to Marc Rich, the fugitive financier whose former wife had donated to Clinton's presidential library.
Against that backdrop, Bush has made very little use of his clemency powers, granting 44 pardons and two commutations. By comparison, over eight years in office President Reagan granted clemency 409 times and Clinton 459 times.
More than half of Clinton's grants came in his final three months.
Fred Fielding, the White House counsel, declined to be interviewed about clemency plans.
Erik Ablin, a Justice Department spokesman, said the administration was committed to "giving each clemency petition received the careful review that is necessary to make an appropriate recommendation."
Ablin noted that any cases left unresolved by Bush would stay open for his successor.
As the administration wrestles with the cascade of petitions, some lawyers and law professors are raising a related issue: whether Bush will grant preemptive pardons to officials involved in controversial counterterrorism programs.
