Obama announced the commutations in a video produced and posted online by the White House, preventing journalists from being able to question him about the move. The White House and political candidates frequently use the same technique, with some presidential hopefuls even announcing their candidacy via scripted videos.
The 46 sentence reductions are the most presidential commutations in a single day since at least the administration of President Lyndon Johnson, according to the White House. Overall, Obama has commuted sentences of 89 people, surpassing the combined number of commutations granted by Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
They represent a sliver of all those seeking clemency: Justice Department statistics show that roughly 2,100 commutation petitions have been received so far this fiscal year, and about 7,900 are pending.
White House counsel Neil Eggleston predicted the president would issue even more commutations before leaving office, but added that “clemency alone will not fix decades of overly punitive sentencing policies.”
The president this week is devoting considerable attention to criminal justice. In addition to his speech Tuesday in Philadelphia, he is to become the first sitting president to visit a federal prison when he goes to the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution outside of Oklahoma City on Thursday. He’ll meet with both law enforcement officials and inmates.
In recent years, long drug sentences have come under increasing scrutiny and downward trends already are taking shape.
The Supreme Court has made sentencing guideline ranges advisory rather than mandatory. Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010 to cut penalties for crack cocaine offenses. And last year, the independent Sentencing Commission, which sets sentencing policy, reduced guideline ranges for drug crimes and applied those retroactively.
Advocates for fair sentences expressed hope the president’s actions would have a ripple effect in the states.
“I hope this sends a message to governors of states that have the power to grant clemencies to those who deserve a chance to be reunited with their families,” said Anthony Papa of the Drug Policy Alliance. Papa was granted clemency in New York in 1997 after serving 12 years under state drug laws.
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