Posted on 01/06/2016 10:29:19 PM PST by Art in Idaho
The Justice Department will drastically increase the number of attorneys it has on staff to deal with what is expected to be a massive push by President Obama to grant clemency to federal prisoners before the end of his term.
The Office of the Pardon Attorney, which handles the federal government's clemency cases, posted a job listing for 16 attorney advisors on the Justice Department's website on Tuesday.
The number of expected hires is more than double the agency's staffing level as of May 2013. Then, seven permanent attorneys -- the pardon attorney, a deputy and five staff attorneys -- were on staff.
But that was before Obama's Justice Department announced a clemency initiative to encourage federal prisoners to petition to have their sentences reduced or vacated.
The initiative, announced in April 2014, applies to federal prisoners who have served at least 10 years of their prison sentence for non-violent crimes. Successful applicants must not have "significant ties" to criminal organizations, gangs, or cartels. They also must have neither a significant criminal history nor a history of violence prior to or during their prison sentence.
The call for more applications had an immediate impact.
Whereas 5,488 clemency applications were filed during the Clinton presidency and 8,574 were filed during the George W. Bush presidency, 18,924 federal prisoners have applied for commutations or pardons during Obama's tenure. In 2014 alone, 6,561 applications were filed.
So far, Obama has commuted -- or reduced -- sentences for 184 prisoners. Bush commuted just 11 sentences while Clinton did so for 61 prisoners. Obama has, however, lagged behind his predecessors in terms of pardons. He has pardoned 66 prisoners so far while Bush and Clinton pardoned 189 and 396 prisoners, respectively. Pardons, which are typically granted after prisoners have completed their sentences, restore lost rights, such as voting and gun ownership rights.
But as the Justice Department's hiring spree suggests -- and as Obama himself has indicated -- more clemency announcements should be expected before Jan. 20, 2017, when the next president takes office.
When the clemency initiative was first announced, senior Obama administration officials said that "hundreds, perhaps thousands" of federal prisoners would be granted relief.
And in a Huffington Post interview last year, Obama promised to "aggressively" exercise his pardon power.
"I think what you'll see is not only me exercising that pardon power and clemency power more aggressively for people who meet the criteria -- nonviolent crimes, have served already a long period of time, have shown that they're rehabilitated," Obama said.
He also claimed during that interview that he had been approved relatively few clemency applications during his first term in office because of ineffective leadership at the Office of the Pardon Attorney. He said that the cases he received for review "didn't address the broader issues that we face, particularly around nonviolent drug offenses."
"So we've revamped now the DOJ office. We're now getting much more representative applicants," Obama stated.
But not everyone is on board with the clemency push.
As one GOP Hill aide told The Daily Caller: "The president's clemency agenda is already well underway, but this suggests he's far from finished."
"Frightening," the aide added.
Others, such as Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte , the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, have said that Obama's initiative is unconstitutional.
"This is not, as the Founders intended, an exercise of the power to provide for 'exceptions in favour of unfortunate guilt,' but instead the use of the pardon power to benefit an entire class of offenders who were duly convicted in a court of law - not to mention a blatant usurpation of the lawmaking authority of the Legislative branch," Goodlatte wrote in a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch in July.
The Office of the Pardon Attorney did not respond to TheDC's request for comment and additional staffing statistics.
Can he be indicted for treason after he leaves office, trying to "fundamentally transform" our Sacred Republic?
You just knew it was coming, didn’t you?
The wife and I were just discussing the possibility that he’d do this on his way out the door. Just like Billy boy did.
I love the fact that our tax money is used to push through their little pet projects.
I with there were other people out there who were as sick as I am of this crap. Why can’t taxpayers band together and just stop paying? Why can’t I find the people with THE BALLS to starve the beast. Id love to but ill be damned if Im gonna be the only one, in essence making myself a sacrificial sucker.
How have his previous pograms done with
THEIR increases in personal?
Believe the last was the IRS to deal with his phony care health insurance tax increase
(and now the irs says that they won’t be able to keep up with information demand,,, especially for the elderly, those off line).
We could, and we really could starve the beast, but that would take courage, which is something that's in short supply among Americans these days.
Years ago I tried to rally Freepers together just to talk about the possibility of a tax revolt, and got heckled off the stage.
As with any revolution, someone has to be the first to step forward. The tough part is finding the courage to be that person. No one wants to be a martyr to the cause.
Congress just handed Obama over a Trillion Dollars to play with over the last year of his term. If necessary, he'll take what money he needs from approved appropriations for other departments. It's all play money to him anyway.
Yup, I'm sure he'll get an all time high number too.
My wife says the same thing. Now if we could all just band together. .
Yeah, how much are all the extra attorneys going to cost along with all the support staff. It just hit me, how long do you have to work for the feds, say these attorneys, before you're eligible for some kind of retirement benefit? Can they do this say two years and then get a life long gold plated retirement? Levin alludes to people 'going in and out of government' like it's common in the beltway. Is this going to be one of those, "Man, am I naive" revelations? . .
"This is not, as the Founders intended, an exercise of the power to provide for 'exceptions in favour of unfortunate guilt,' but instead the use of the pardon power to benefit an entire class of offenders who were duly convicted in a court of law - not to mention a blatant usurpation of the lawmaking authority of the Legislative branch," Goodlatte wrote in a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch in July.
Guess Obama is going to show those Founder guys. .
“Pardon putsch” His Ton ton Macoutes being turned loose on the public!
And like Bill Clinton’s Pardons and Commutations list it will be long, as he protects those from the criminal deeds done under his watch and approval, when he leaves in January 2017.
Man, I haven't thought of the Ton ton Macoutes in awhile. Very apropos.
I tell you, if one of my family members is harmed in any way by any of these released felons. . . You know some family somewhere is going to be grieving soon after the releases. .
Countdown until Obama is OUT OF OFFICE
306 more days! Are we going to make it?
Well said. We now have taxation without representation and a totally lawless centralized soft tyrannical government. . So, now what?
If the November election is hijacked, I say it's Revolution time.
I’m afraid his plan is to pardon the remaining Guantanamo prisoners on his last day in office, as a final F-U to America.
“talk about the possibility of a tax revolt”
Stop payroll tax deductions. Make everyone write a quarterly tax check. That would cause a tax revolt. Most people have no idea how much taxes they pay. They only look at the “take home” numbers.
They are busy giving the Obungler everything he wants. I do wonder, however, if he will give a blanket pardon to all his criminal minions, even before any of them are convicted of anything, like the Hildabeast, for instance. Ford pardoned Nixon.
Will Hildebeest be among them? Nah, she won’t be indicted.
Yes it would, but who is going to make such a change in the tax code? Congress? Fat chance.
The status quo isn't going to change until the people force it to change.
they would pay each other anything they need...hush money...i’m sure hitlery knows everything we suspect to be true about nobama is true and visa versa...but wouldn’t surprise me if obama doesn’t empty the prisons when he goes...still saying if he goes...but unlike castro he has no intentions of sending them to other shores...he will merely put them on the streets to continue their damage here on the evil country and them “white people”....pay baby pay or burn baby burn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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