Broken pardon system: Second look

Letter to the editor:

Former pardon attorney Deborah Leff’s resignation letter reveals how bankrupt the process for administering the president’s constitutional pardon power has become (“Former administration pardon attorney suggests broken system in resignation letter”).

The problems go beyond inadequate resources and the Justice Department’s questionable commitment to President Obama’s agenda. The process is simply incapable of handling thousands of cases of federal prisoners serving draconian sentences. It also appears incapable of simultaneously handling post-sentence pardons, the meat and potatoes of the clemency caseload. Obama cannot hope to free more than a few hundred additional prisoners, a paltry number considering the scope of the problem and what many expected when the initiative was announced.

Removing the process from DOJ control will cement his legacy by making it possible for his successors to use their constitutional power as the framers intended, not only to reduce prison sentences but also to restore rights to those who have paid their debt to society.

Margaret Colgate Love, Washington, D.C.

Love, U.S. pardon attorney from 1990 to 1997, represents clemency applicants.