President Obama on Wednesday shortened the sentences of another 61 drug offenders, bringing his total commutation tally to 248, which is more than the previous six presidents combined.
But Obama's numbers look less impressive when considered proportionally. Thanks to a recent spike in commutation requests, Obama lags behind former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and even Richard Nixon if commutations are counted as a proportion of clemency petitions. Carter granted 2.8 percent of commutation requests, Ford 4 percent, and Nixon 6.7 percent. To date, Obama has assented to just 1.3 percent of some 20,000 commutation requests submitted during his tenure.
"At his current pace," The New York Times remarks, "Mr. Obama will free a small fraction of those prisoners by the time his term ends next year," while thousands of petitions will go unaddressed. For its part, the Justice Department has said it does not have the resources to process the applications more quickly.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Margaret Atwood’s ‘deliciously naughty’ memoirIn the Spotlight ‘Bean-spilling’ book by The Handmaid’s Tale author is ‘immensely readable’
-
Being a school crossing guard has become a deadly jobUnder the Radar At least 230 crossing guards have been hit by cars over the last decade
-
Crossword: November 4, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
