Democratic lawmakers advocating for a bill to reform and speed up the federal clemency process had no desire to give former President Donald Trump credit for his steps toward criminal justice reform.
“The 45th president used the power of clemency to please the wealthy and connected and his close friends who were complicit in many hurt — in much hurt and harm,” Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, the lead sponsor of the bill, said in response to a question noting Trump’s work on criminal justice reform.
CAPITOL POLICE SAY AIDE WITH GUN WAS STOPPED AFTER 12 MINUTES, TRIPLING TIMELINE
Pressley on Friday introduced the FIX Clemency Act, a bill that would create an independent clemency board to evaluate requests that federal sentences be commuted. The current system to evaluate clemency and pardon requests, housed in the Department of Justice, can take decades, and cases are closed with little transparency, bill advocates said. The department has more than 11,000 pending clemency applications.
Trump famously granted clemency to (and later pardoned) Alice Marie Johnson, who was in prison for nonviolent drug trafficking offenses, at the urging of Kim Kardashian. She was later featured in the Republican National Committee’s 2020 convention. He also flaunted signing into law the First Step Act criminal justice reform bill.
But Trump also issued a swath of controversial pardons during his final days in office, including for his former aide Steve Bannon, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law and aide Jared Kushner.
“Clemency should be used as a tool in a way that is compassionate for those who have been harmed by an unjust system,” Pressley said. “Our FIX Clemency Act, again, will make the process one it’s more fair, that it’s more efficient, that is more transparent, and eliminate the current conflict of interest that is housed in the Department of Justice.”
Under Pressley’s bill, the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Department of Justice would be abolished, and a nine-member board to review clemency cases would be created in its place. The president, who has constitutional pardon authority, would appoint the members of the board.
One of those members would be required to be a person who was previously incarcerated.
“I believe that the people closest to the pain should be closest to the power driving and informing the policy solutions,” Pressley said of the requirement of including a formerly incarcerated person on the board.
At Pressley’s press conference was Danielle Metz, a woman who was granted clemency from three life sentences for drug trafficking-related charges by former President Barack Obama. She now works with the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls.
“I left too many women behind,” Metz said of leaving prison. “I am not free until they are free.”
“The era of mass incarceration must end. The era of mass liberation must begin,” said New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “And in order to bring that about, the FIX Clemency Act will play a substantial role.”
Jeffries was hopeful that past bipartisan cooperation on matters such as the First Step Act could signal a bright future for this bill.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
”Criminal justice reform has thankfully become a bipartisan issue in recent times,” Jeffries said in a Friday press conference. “I expect the FIX Clemency Act to be evaluated on its merits, and if it is, we should be able to get it over the finish line.”
Pressley indicated that she has not yet been in contact with any Republicans supportive of the bill but that she would begin seeking support from the other side of the aisle.
