Law professor and former federal prosecutor Mark Osler writes a commentary in the Star Tribune on efforts to reform the U.S. clemency process. He writes:
“Unfortunately, Obama promised hope to those in prison, but did not fix the underlying problem: a process that courses hard files through four different federal buildings and seven levels of review. It’s the kind of self-perpetuating, counterproductive federal bureaucracy Ronald Reagan so often decried. There is an easy fix, too: Just put the pardon attorney in the office of the White House counsel and have her report directly to the president. All the president needs to make it happen is the political will and a pen. We know he has the pen. He hasn’t used it.”
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