THE LAW PROFESSOR AND THE PARDON POWER

On Wednesday, President Obama will issue the White House's standard
hokey pardon of a Thanksgiving turkey. It goes with the job. That's
good news for the lucky turkey, but not much help for the many
nonviolent first offenders languishing in federal prisons because,
nine months into office, Obama has yet to exercise his presidential
pardon power.

According to political science Professor P.S. Ruckman Jr. of Rock
Valley College in Illinois, Obama, a former constitutional law
professor, has taken longer to use the executive pardon and
commutation power than all but four presidents - George Washington,
John Adams, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Obama hasn't pardoned a single ex-offender, even though about 1,200
people have asked for pardons because they have turned their lives
around, expressed remorse for their crimes and now want to wipe the
criminal slate clean of long-past offenses for which they paid the
penalty.

Nor has Obama commuted the sentence of any of the 2,000 or so federal
inmates seeking sentence reductions - many because of draconian
federal mandatory minimum sentences.

"We had certainly hoped that by now President Obama would have used
the pardon power," said Molly Gill of the sentencing-reform group
Families Against Mandatory Minimums. "We are a little bit surprised
and a little bit disappointed."

This is where a number of readers no doubt are talking back to the
paper and saying that it's just fine with them if Obama keeps career
criminals behind bars, thank you very much.

Of course, the pardon doesn't free anyone. It is a reward for reformed
offenders who, after serving their sentences, have led exemplary lives
and want a clean criminal slate so that they can vote or look for a
job without revealing their past.

The commutation power is more important than ever as flawed federal
mandatory-minimum sentences too often inflict grossly disproportionate
sentences on low-level drug offenders, disproportionately African
American, while the feds let drug kingpins who testify against others
cut deals.

Of course, Obama shouldn't commute the sentences of violent or career
criminals. But he could use it to free - under supervised release even
- - the likes of Clarence Aaron, a Louisiana college student who was
arrested after facilitating two drug deals in 1992. Aaron was guilty
and hence deserved to serve time in prison. But it's hard to see
justice in a prosecution that meted out lesser sentences to the
professional dealers and their minions - men with criminal records,
who knew enough to testify against the new kid. As for Aaron, who was
foolish enough to plead not guilty, he was sentenced to life without
parole for a first-time nonviolent offense.

Last December, President Bush turned down Aaron's request for a
commutation. His supporters have put their hopes in Obama. But the new
president doesn't seem eager to use his unfettered pardon power to
correct sentencing injustices for the politically unconnected.

Look at Obama's choice for attorney general, Eric Holder. When Holder
worked for the Clinton administration, Ruckman noted, "he wouldn't
take the time, energy or effort to make it a regular feature of
government."

"But he would, if you will, make an effort in wildly controversial
situations." Such as Holder's "neutral leaning positive"
recommendation for the pardon sought by fugitive gazillionaire Marc
Rich and his role in the 1999 Clinton pardons of 16 Puerto Rico
independence terrorists.

When you think about it, the pardon petition is the rare Washington
exercise that encourages politically unconnected people to petition
their president for relief. But like Bush and Clinton before him,
Obama seems to be hoarding this power. It's as if Team Obama sees
justice as perk, not an equal right.