Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Eric Holder and the FALN Pardons:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_01_04-2009_01_10.shtml#1231531009
The LA Times [1]reports that Eric Holder actively sought to blunt
opposition to President Clinton's pardon of members of two pro-Puerto
Rican independence terrorist groups.
New interviews and an examination of previously undisclosed
documents indicate that Holder played an active role in changing
the position of the Justice Department on the commutations.
Holder instructed his staff at Justice's Office of the Pardon
Attorney to effectively replace the department's original report
recommending against any commutations, which had been sent to the
White House in 1996, with one that favored clemency for at least
half the prisoners, according to these interviews and documents. .
. .
The 16 members of the FALN (the Spanish acronym for Armed Forces of
National Liberation) and Los Macheteros had been convicted in
Chicago and Hartford variously of bank robbery, possession of
explosives and participating in a seditious conspiracy. Overall,
the two groups had been linked by the FBI to more than 130
bombings, several armed robberies, six slayings and hundreds of
injuries.
None of the 16 whose sentences were commuted had been convicted of
murder, and most had already served lengthy prison terms.
A spokesman for the Obama transition, Nick Shapiro, confirmed that
Holder asked for the "options memo" that preceded the clemency. . .
.
George Terwilliger, who served as deputy attorney general under
President George H. W. Bush and was asked by the Obama transition
team to comment, said that although he disagreed with the FALN
clemency, Holder's conduct in the case was appropriate. . . .
When Clinton issued the commutations on Aug. 11, 1999, the House
and the Senate passed resolutions condemning his decision. . . .
Holder was called to testify on the case by the Senate Judiciary
Committee but, invoking Clinton's claim of executive privilege,
declined to say whether the Justice Department had changed its
position on the commutations. Asked what happened after the 1996
report opposing any commutations, he told the senators: "There were
subsequent communications with the White House in the months after
that recommendation."
Given the [2]concerns raised by GOP Senators over the Holder
nomination, this story could be significant.
References
1.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-holder9-2009jan09,0,6643509.story
2. http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202427254230
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