President Biden has only granted 1.4% of clemency petitions submitted. There are four months left for cannabis justice before his term ends.

With the president’s decision to drop out of the race, he has effectively begun a longer lame-duck period, which is historically when most presidential clemency grants have occurred.

  • zkfcfbzr@lemmy.worldEnglish
    911·
    2 months ago

    Not so sure it’s correct to say he’s already in the “lame duck” phase the article mentions where most presidents stuff their clemency grants. It might be true in a literal sense, but public perception is presumably the main reason presidents wait until that period for this sort of thing, and I’m sure he’s still very conscious of how his own PR could affect Harris’s campaign.

    • ccunning@lemmy.world
      511·
      2 months ago

      By the article’s logic, every president elected to a second term has entered their lame duck phase the day after the election.

      • unconfirmedsourcesDOTgov@lemmy.sdf.org
        16·
        2 months ago

        Yes, this is not uncommon in US politics.

        Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

        In U.S. politics, the period between (presidential and congressional) elections in November and the inauguration of officials early in the following year is commonly called the “lame-duck period”.

        A president elected to a second term is sometimes seen as a lame duck from early in the second term, since term limits prevent them from contesting re-election four years later. However, not personally having to face the electorate again makes a second-term president more powerful than they were in their first term as they are thus freer to take politically unpopular actions. However, this comes with caveats; as the de facto leader of their political party, the president’s actions affect how the party performs in the midterm elections two years into the second term, and, to some extent, the success of that party’s nominee in the next presidential election four years in the future. For these reasons, it can be argued that a president in their second term is not a lame duck at all.

        So while you’re right that the assertion the author is making is misguided, it’s a fallacy that is made often enough that some might conflate it with reality.

      • zigmus64@lemmy.world
        152·
        2 months ago

        They have…. That’s why there is a usual trend of bolder actions taken by second term presidents because they’re no longer eligible for candidacy for President.

        That’s also why we can’t fuck about with a second Trump term.

      • abff08f4813c@j4vcdedmiokf56h3ho4t62mlku.srv.us
        2·
        2 months ago

        Came on just to say this. I’d argue that it’s by party rather than by individual, so with the Dems trying to get another term Biden has to be careful not to throw a spanner into the works for Harris.

      • almar_quigley@lemmy.world
        11·
        2 months ago

        It’s like Christmas season. Soon the lame duck period will start before they even begin campaigning for their first term!

    • abff08f4813c@j4vcdedmiokf56h3ho4t62mlku.srv.us
      2·
      2 months ago

      I’d argue that it should be seen by party rather than by individual. So the real lame duck period doesn’t start until it’s clear that the White House is about to change parties. This is much shorter (election in Nov, new Prez sworn in late Jan) and also covers the period major winter holidays (so don’t expect too much to get done).

  • someguy3@lemmy.world
    416·
    2 months ago

    C’mon he won’t do this until the elections over. Nothing controversial until after the election.

          • ravhall@discuss.online
            14·
            2 months ago

            this is a very real statement. There are very few people in federal prison on possession charges. No one found guilty of trafficking is ever going to be pardoned, and no one suggested that would happen.

            The vast majority of people guilty for possession are imprisoned on a state level, and Biden cannot pardon those people.

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
              510·
              2 months ago

              I mean as a lie, since cannabis hasn’t been rescheduled and was never gonna be under Biden.

              • ravhall@discuss.online
                63·
                2 months ago

                There isn’t a clear yes or no answer to your question, since it is leading.

                Are you waiting for someone to be released from federal prison that was only charged with possession?

                • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  69·
                  2 months ago

                  I’m not waiting for Biden to do anything. I saw how that went with rescheduling. You want to believe Lucy won’t pull the football away, go ahead.

      • someguy3@lemmy.world
        145·
        2 months ago

        Hello Mr Crab! What shall we discuss today? Here we have your “b b b but Biden bad!”

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
          511·
          2 months ago

          Ok, sure. He’ll totally do it. He’s not Crime Bill Biden anymore. Most progressive human to ever grace this worthless rock or whatever. No criticism of your god allowed.

          • someguy3@lemmy.world
            113·
            2 months ago

            Ah sarcasm and appeal to a diety that ‘obviously thou worships him like a god’, when I simply point out a fact that he won’t do a controversial thing until after the election. That a simple fact to you means worship is laughable. I wonder if it’s projection.

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
              49·
              2 months ago

              You speculated he was waiting because it was controversial. I speculated he wasn’t going to do it at all. Your speculation is no more fact than mine. Yet you also believed that Biden was gonna reschedule cannabis, and that was a fucking lie too.

              • someguy3@lemmy.world
                93·
                2 months ago

                It’s a fact that pardons, especially controversial ones, come at the end after the election. That this means worship to you is still laughable. You’re now just trying to be pedantic on the word fact.

                Still mad that it’s just a little ahead of the ball to say that he (whatever agency really) rescheduled marijuana? Boy. Not to mention it’s just another form of trying to be pedantic.

                • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  48·
                  2 months ago

                  Still mad that it’s just a little ahead of the ball

                  He never intended to reschedule, and he ran out the clock.

  • Nougat@fedia.io
    383·
    2 months ago

    The letter referred to mentions “more than 150 people currently serving federal sentences for non-violent cannabis-related offenses” – not the “estimated 3,000 individuals still incarcerated in our federal prison system for cannabis” that the article states.

    Almost all non-violent cannabis-related offenses are state convictions, for which the president has no pardon power. This article seems to gloss over that fact. As others in this thread have stated, no such action is going to happen until after the election anyway.

    Whle I don’t disagree with the main thrust of this opinion article, it’s a bit misleading and unrealistic in its timeline.

    • Verdant Banana@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      817·
      2 months ago

      unrealistic in its timeline?

      people have waited for decades for a president from any party to give any amount of shits

      • Nougat@fedia.io
        121·
        2 months ago

        As others in this thread have stated, no such action is going to happen until after the election anyway.

  • Westdragon@lemmy.world
    171·
    2 months ago

    I suspect that if he intends a mass pardon he will do it after the election. Common sense says that there is more risk of negative campaign influence then positive in this case, and why would he risk it?