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Pardons and Commutations Under President Trump

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As of this writing, President Trump has granted four commutations of sentences and seven pardons, one of which being a posthumous pardon.[1] President Trump had broken with tradition when he first granted a full unconditional pardon to Joe Arpaio early into his first term as President. Trump also later granted a full unconditional, posthumous pardon to John "Jack" Arthur, who was sentenced in 1920.

It is not uncommon for Presidents to deny petitions for clemency. President Trump has denied 82 requests for pardons and 98 requests for commutations as of this writing.[2] Compared to other Presidents,Trump has issued the least amount of denials of petitions in the first 12 months of office since George H. W. Bush except for Barack Obama.[3] Although President Obama issued zero denials his first year in office, he would end his second term with the greatest number of petition denials across all Presidents.

Posthumous Pardons

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Posthumous pardons are usually rare because it is generally Department of Justice policy to not accept requests for non living persons.[4] This is due to the limited resources and personnel at the Department of Justice, and cases involving living persons take precedent over those who are deceased. The same procedure and reasoning is applied to clemency applications for federal misdemeanors, giving precedent to cases involving federal felony convictions. This structure is designed to allow the DOJ to devote its time to those who will receive the greatest benefit from Federal clemency. Presidents Clinton, W. Bush, and Trump are the only 3 to have granted posthumous pardons.[5]

Executive Grant of Clemency for Alice Marie Johnson
Petitions denied by President
Pardon Commutation
Jimmy Carter (1 term) 638 673
Ronald Reagan (2 term) 969 318
George H. W. Bush (1 term) 676 429
Bill Clinton (2 term) 655 2,387
George W. Bush (2 term) 1,729 7,498
Barack Obama (2 term) 1,708 18,749
Donald Trump (19.5 Months) 82 98
Pardon of Joe Arpaio by President Trump
President Trump's grants of Executive Clemency
Date Name Offense Form of Clemency
December 20,2017 Sholom Rubashkin Bank fraud; false statements and reports to a bank; wire fraud; mail fraud; money laundering and aiding and abetting; willful violation of Secretary of Agriculture and aiding and abetting Commutation
August 25, 2017 Joseph M. Arpaio Contempt of court Pardon
March 9, 2018 Kristian Mark Saucier Unauthorized retention of defense information Pardon
April 13, 2018 Lewis "Scooter" Libby Obstruction of justice; false statements; perjury Pardon
May 24, 2018 John Arthur Johnson Violation of the White Slave Traffic Act Pardon (Posthumous)
May 31, 2018 Dinesh D'Souza Campaign contribution fraud Pardon
June 6, 2018 Alice Marie Johnson Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; attempted possession of 12 kilograms of cocaine with intent to deliver; attempted possession of 9 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute; attempted possession of 75 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute; attempted possession of 10 kilograms of cocaine with intent to distribute; conspiracy to commit money laundering; money laundering; structuring monetary transactions Commutation
July 10, 2018 Dwight Lincoln Hammond Use of fire to damage and destroy property of the United States Pardon/Commutation
July 10, 2018 Steven Dwight Hammond Use of fire to damage and destroy property of the United States Pardon/Commutation
  1. ^ "Office of the Pardon Attorney". 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  2. ^ "Office of the Pardon Attorney". 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  3. ^ "Clemency Statistics". 2015-01-12. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  4. ^ "Policies". 2015-01-12. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  5. ^ "Policies". 2015-01-12. Retrieved 2018-10-25.

Further reading

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Crouch, Jeffrey. (May 26, 2009). "The Presidential Pardon Power"

University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700616466.