Bill Clinton pardon controversy

rdf:langString Bill Clinton pardon controversy

rdf:langString Bill Clinton was criticized for some of his presidential pardons and acts of executive clemency. Pardoning or commuting sentences is a power granted by the Constitution to sitting U.S. presidents. Scholars use two different models to describe the pardons process. Clinton used the presidential model, viewing the pardon power as a convenient resource that could be used to advance specific policy goals. In contrast, the agency model views the pardons process as process driven by nonpolitical legal experts in the Department of Justice. Clinton chose to make nearly a third of them on January 20, 2001, his last day in office. This was ridiculed as Pardongate. While Clinton pardoned a large number (450) of people compared with his immediate one-term predecessor Republican George H. W. Bush, who pardoned only 75, the number of people pardoned by Clinton was comparable to that pardoned by two-term Republican Ronald Reagan and one-term Democrat Jimmy Carter, who pardoned 393 and 534 respectively. Federal prosecutor Mary Jo White was appointed to investigate the pardon of Marc Rich. She was later replaced by Republican James Comey, who found no illegality on Clinton's part.