Obama Granted Clemency Less Than Any Modern President
/A former brothel manager who helped the FBI bust a national prostitution ring. A retired sheriff who inadvertently helped a money launderer buy land. A young woman who mailed ecstasy tablets for a drug-dealing boyfriend, then worked with investigators to bring him down. All of them and hundreds more were denied pardons by President Obama, who has granted clemency at a lower rate than any modern president, according to a ProPublica review of pardons data. The Constitution gives the president unique power to forgive individuals for federal offenses, allowing the restoration of a person's full rights to vote, possess firearms and obtain business licenses, as well as remove other barriers. For many, a pardon is an opportunity for a fresh start. But Obama has parceled out forgiveness far more rarely than his recent predecessors, pardoning just 22 individuals while denying 1,019.
