George W. Bush Entering a Season Of Pardons

As an “end-of-mandate” tradition, the retiring president has pardoned anonymous sentenced persons. Some others, whose cases are more controversial, are also eagerly expecting an examination of their case…

On Monday, making use of his discretionary power, Bush pardoned 14 people sentenced for tax evasion, misappropriation of funds or pesticide use against protected species. Only one of them has some little renown: the hip-hop singer John E. Forté, who will be out of jail after he spent the half of his imprisonment time (14 years for drug trafficking).

The 43rd president distinguished himself being very strict with the judicial system: political dismissals of U.S. Attorneys, extrajudicial detentions, questioning methods which could be compared to torture, exception trials for people suspected of terrorism. However, he was very parsimonious when it came to granting pardons. Over a period of eight years, George Bush has purged 171 police records out of more than 2,000 requests and commuted 10 penalties out of 7,000 requests. It’s half as much as when Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan were presidents.

A kind of favoritism exclusively appeared for Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former chief of staff for vice president Dick Cheney, who was convicted in 2007 for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Would there be an immunity for the antiterrorist campaign?

Two months away from his leaving the White House though, the pardon season is just about to start. Hundreds of requests are piling up at the Justice department, waiting for the F.B.I. and the concerned magistrates to revise them before being conveyed to the White House.

Michael Mieken’s file was among these files. This famous financier was condemned for fraud in the early 80’s, and Bill Clinton had then refused to pardon him. Two politicians who had been accused of corruption also claimed the right to have their penalties commuted: the former Republican Representative of California, Randy Cunningham, and the former Democratic Governor of Louisiana, Edwin Edwards.

Controversial presidential pardons are not rare when a president’s term is coming to an end. Bill Clinton pardoned 140 people during his last days at the White House, including his brother, who was involved in a drug business, as well as an escaped swindler, Marc Rich, whose ex-wife was a generous donor to the presidential library. Eric Holder, who had been nominated by Barack Obama as the leader of the Justice department, can expect to be questioned on him taking part in this case during his confirmation hearings at the Senate. George H.W. Bush Senior also pardoned Caspar Weinberger, former defense secretary for Reagan, for his participation in the Iran-Contra scandal.

One question about Bush’s intentions is in suspense and far beyond the individual cases. It deals with the hypothesis of a general immunity which could be granted, under the form of a preventive reprieve, to all anti terrorist campaign attendees. In 2002, John Yoo, who was an adviser at the Justice department, had written a note giving the permission to use the waterboarding method (which provokes a sensation of drowning) along with other violent methods against people suspected of terrorism. The C.I.A. admitted they used such methods against at least three prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Now that Obama’s accession to the power is confirmed, some elected members would like to have these inquiries re-opened.

Abraham Lincoln pardoned all the war combatants of the Civil War. Jimmy Carter did so for the deserters of the Vietnam War. Nowadays, Bush would probably think that taking such steps is unnecessary, since the judicial frame of his decisions sounds suitable to him. As for Obama, he doesn’t want to look back. He made the decision to turn the page and wants to have Guantanamo closed and torture banished.