Rudy '07 and Rudy '82: Presidential Pardons (and Commutations)

On July 2, 2007, Giuliani's campaign web site published this brief comment on Bush's decision to commute Scooter Libby's prison time:

Mayor Rudy Giuliani released the following statement on Lewis Libby: "After evaluating the facts, the President came to a reasonable decision and I believe the decision was correct."

Back in 1982 when Giuliani was Associate Attorney General in the Reagan Justice Department he commented on the rigorous process and strict criteria used to decide each instance of executive clemency. You'll notice another familiar name, Fred Fielding, White House counsel then and now.

From The New York Times of December 25, 1982:

According to Associate Attorney General Rudolph W. Giuliani, executive clemency involves a great number of people and a complex, yearlong procedure. Every request is subject to a detailed inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which conducts as many as 50 interviews to flesh out each application. That background investigation is as comprehensive as any the bureau conducts on a prospective United States Attorney, Mr. Giuliani said.

The case is next studied by the pardon attorney, who makes a judgment that Mr. Giuliani reviews. His judgment, in turn, goes to Fred Fielding, the White House counsel who re-examines the files and makes his own judgment. Then, according to Mr. Fielding, every request is presented to the President for his concurrence.

The DOJ pardon attorney at the time was David Stephenson. He described the requirements for clemency as follows:

To be eligible, a person must have not only been charged and convicted but also have finished his sentence. Then, most applicants must wait five to seven years, Mr. Stephenson said. Those seeking pardons must prove that they have changed, and any black marks on their records -further arrests, nonpayment of taxes or poor credit ratings, for instance - will weigh heavily against them.

Giuliani emphasized this point:

''The real thing you're looking for is rehabilitation,'' said Mr. Giuliani. ''Has the person changed the way he's living his life? The more serious the offense, the more time you want to see noncriminal behavior. We also look at the reason for the request and a recognition that the person knows he's done something wrong.''

I'm posting the entire Times article here because a link will not have the paid-only access.

62 GETTING REAGAN'S GIFT OF FORGIVENESS

By LESLIE MAITLAND SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: December 25, 1982

E. Howard Hunt and Jeb Stuart Magruder will not be receiving the special Christmas gift each had hoped for from President Reagan this year.

But a farmer who was convicted of stealing $10 when he worked as a postal clerk 10 years ago will have his wish granted. And so will the mechanic who, as a soldier in Germany in 1948, was courtmartialed and sentenced to a year's hard labor for an assault in a bar over a card game.

The farmer, the mechanic and 60 other people who want the President to forgive them for Federal crimes are receiving pardons and will regain the civil rights they lost when they were convicted.

While pardons are actually granted in batches all through the year, it is traditional for the Justice Department to make an extra attempt to grant a large number in time for Christmas.

The requests of Mr. Hunt and Mr. Magruder, however, have not been decided. Ironically, both former Watergate figures may also suffer from what the department's acting pardon attorney, David C. Stephenson, describes as the tendency since the Watergate affair for pardon rulings to be more strictly decided.

''Going back to Watergate, there's been a progressive movement through one administration after another to be stricter about granting pardons,'' Mr. Stephenson said. ''There's a much greater reluctance to grant pardons so readily. Standards are much stricter these days.''

Too strict, some say. Terrence B. Adamson, a Washington lawyer who served as a top Justice Department official under Attorney General Griffin B. Bell, observes that department lawyers are trained as prosecutors to view criminals without sympathy and might therefore tend toward excessive harshness in determining who merits mercy.

''At present, they seem to be judging requests for clemency solely as prosecutors, rather than in terms of their broader mandate, for this function, to do justice,'' Mr. Adamson added. ''The power to grant commutations and pardons should be exercised. It's constitutionally contemplated and an important element in our justice system.''

Mr. Stephenson described the shifts in policy that have occurred under various administrations. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson were among the most forgiving, he said, adding that Mr. Johnson granted a record 364 pardons and 81 commutations of sentences in 1966.

Mr. Johnson then received so much criticism that he stopped pardoning entirely, Mr. Stephenson said. When President Nixon took office, the backlog of applications meant none were granted in his first year in office.

Mr. Nixon, of course, received the country's most famous and unorthodox pardon. President Ford granted it before Mr. Nixon had even been charged with a crime, and he unconditionally forgave all Federal offenses his predecessor ''committed or may have committed or taken part in'' while in office.

''There was agreement that indictable offenses had been committed, or else there would have been no need for a pardon,'' Mr. Stephenson said. ''But that one was handled entirely in the White House. This office was not consulted.''

Pardons are generally not granted that way. To be eligible, a person must have not only been charged and convicted but also have finished his sentence. Then, most applicants must wait five to seven years, Mr. Stephenson said. Those seeking pardons must prove that they have changed, and any black marks on their records -further arrests, nonpayment of taxes or poor credit ratings, for instance - will weigh heavily against them.

According to Associate Attorney General Rudolph W. Giuliani, executive clemency involves a great number of people and a complex, yearlong procedure. Every request is subject to a detailed inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which conducts as many as 50 interviews to flesh out each application. That background investigation is as comprehensive as any the bureau conducts on a prospective United States Attorney, Mr. Giuliani said. President Evaluates Each Case

The case is next studied by the pardon attorney, who makes a judgment that Mr. Giuliani reviews. His judgment, in turn, goes to Fred Fielding, the White House counsel who re-examines the files and makes his own judgment. Then, according to Mr. Fielding, every request is presented to the President for his concurrence.

''It's an operation of a very specific Presidential power,'' Mr. Fielding said, adding that the President had signed one commutation in addition to the 62 pardons in time for this Christmas. ''We certainly look at them with a view toward a strong law and order requirement for the country, but if people have paid their debt to society and are leading lives that show they want to make a contribution to society, we certainly take that into account, too.''

For some of the applicants, more than honor hinges on the decision. One man whose handwritten plea to the President is now being considered explained that he needed a pardon to become a bartender. His statement assured Mr. Reagan that he was no longer gambling, the crime for which he wanted forgiveness.

Besides qualifying for specific employment, applicants may seek the right to vote, sit on juries or hold public office. Many others simply seem to desire to see their names cleared and their achievements acknowledged.

''The real thing you're looking for is rehabilitation,'' said Mr. Giuliani. ''Has the person changed the way he's living his life? The more serious the offense, the more time you want to see noncriminal behavior. We also look at the reason for the request and a recognition that the person knows he's done something wrong.''

Mr. Giuliani said, for example, that he had recommended that the President deny the request of an embezzler who insisted he had committed no crime, along with that of a man who was released from prison only four years ago on a charge of printing $20 million in counterfeit money.

''I don't feel bad when I deny them,'' Mr. Giuliani said, adding that only about 20 percent of the requests are being approved. ''The applicants have a substantial burden of proving they've straightened themselves out. But when they have, it feels good to grant them.''

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