Pardon Me

As President George Bush closes out his term in office, the question of who he might be willing to extend pardons to is being raised.

Some high-profile convicts past and present are among more than 2,000 people asking President George W. Bush to pardon them or commute their prison sentences before he leaves office.

Junk-bond king Michael Milken, media mogul Conrad Black and American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh have applied to the Justice Department seeking official forgiveness.

But with Bush's term ending Jan. 20, some lawyers are lobbying the White House directly to pardon their clients. That raises the possibility that the president could excuse scores of people, including some who have not been charged, to protect them from future accusations, such as former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or star baseball pitcher Roger Clemens.

Those who have worked with Bush predict that will not happen. The White House has declined to comment on upcoming pardons.

"I would expect the president's conservative approach to executive pardons to continue through the remainder of his term," said Helgi C. Walker, a former Bush associate White House counsel.

"There would also be a concern about avoiding any appearance of impropriety in the waning days of his administration _ i.e. some sort of pardon free-for-all," Walker said. "I don't think that is anything that is going to happen on this president's watch."

Last week, Bush issued 14 pardons and commuted two sentences _ all for small-time crimes such as minor drug offenses, tax evasion and unauthorized use of food stamps. That brought his eight-year total to 171 pardons and eight commutations granted.

That is less than half as many as President Bill Clinton or President Ronald Reagan issued. Both were two-term presidents, like Bush.

Bush has already shown himself to be stingy with his pardon/commutation power. I don't see that changing either, and although there will be a flurry of pardons, I don't expect to see the kind of quid pro quo engaged in by Bush's predecessor, Bill Clinton.

Jammie points out that there are quite a few high profile individuals seeking reductions in sentences or pardons, including John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban.

Anyone who meets the qualifications and fills out the necessary forms can have their cases reviewed by the Office of Pardon Attorney, but that doesn't mean that they have a chance of success.

The statistics bear out that Bush isn't going to issue pardons like they were candy. There is no chance that Bush is going to issue a pardon to the likes of Lindh.

Still unlikely is that President Bush would issue pardons preemptively to members of his Administration or the CIA or US Armed Forces for actions taken during the Global War on Terror to avoid prosecutions by the incoming administration.

I give roughly even odds that he might commute the sentence of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a disgraced Republican Congressman who was convicted of corruption charges, but who was a highly decorated Vietnam War hero. Less likely is that he'd commute the sentences of Milken or Black.

Much more likely is a pardon or commutation of the sentences of former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and agent Jose Compean, who were convicted of shooting a drug smuggler in 2005 and trying to cover it up.