To: The United States House of Representatives

Blue Ribbon Commission to Investigate Pardons Attorney

Please create a blue-ribbon commission or an advisory process inside the Justice Department apart from the pardon attorney to oversee policy guidance for DOJ on requests for executive clemency.

It is apparent that a steep backlog in the pardon office coupled with fewer clemency grants in recent years has driven applicants to reach out to the White House directly. Congress should take a look at why this is so and take whatever steps are necessary to correct this situation.

The Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice has, particularly in relation to doubtful and overzealous prosecutions, concluded that pardon attorney Ronald L. Rodgers had engaged in “conduct that fell substantially short of the high standards expected of Department of Justice employees and the duty he owed the President of the United States".

One simple and immediate way for the president to reinvigorate the pardons process is to choose a person of stature and energy — a federal judge perhaps — to steward his administration’s pardon duties. At the same time, he can end the department’s conflict of interest by replacing the pardons office with a new bipartisan commission under the White House’s aegis, giving it ample resources and real independence.

Why is this important?

The wilful refusal to consider pardoning Governor Don Siegelman of Alambama.