Presidents and governors always do this just before they leave office,
I just wonder if they have enough pardons printed up for when Obama leaves office, somehow I see a whole bunch of pardons being signed...
@Mccrj: Very true. Most wait until they are lame ducks, but all Presidents have been busy giving pardons (which includes commuted or rescinded sentences). Here are just the last 22 PresidentsPresident (term of office)Number of PardonsGrover Cleveland (1885 to 1889, 1893 to 1897)1,107Benjamin Harrison (1889 to 1893)613William McKinley (1897 to 1901)918Theodore Roosevelt (1901 to 1909)981William H. Taft (1909 to 1913)758Woodrow Wilson (1913 to 1921)2,480Warren Harding (1921 to 1923)800Calvin Coolidge (1923 to 1929)1,545Herbert Hoover (1929 to 1933)1,385Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933 to 1945)3,687Harry Truman (1945 to 1953)2,044Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953 to 1961)1,157John F. Kennedy (1961 to 1963)575Lyndon B. Johnson (1963 to 1969)1,187Richard Nixon (1969 to 1974)926Gerald Ford (1974 to 1977)409Jimmy Carter (1977 to 1981)566Ronald Reagan (1981 to 1989)406George H.W. Bush (1989 to 1993)77Bill Clinton (1993 to 2001)456George W. Bush (2001 to 2009)176 Barack Obama (2009 to 2013) 23
www.infoplease.com/u s/government/preside ntial-pardons-1789-p resent.htmlI fully expect Obama's number to grow over the next two years of his lame duck term. FDR has the record for most pardons by any President (as well as the most years served). It's interesting to see that JFK signed 575 pardons over almost three years in office. He was killed during his first term and he surely would have won a second term. I am sure Rick Perry will bulk up his presidential campaign cashbox with a slew of "purchased/bribed" pardons before he leaves offfice. It was rumored that Governor Edwin Edwards had a menu for Pardons listed by crime and price/bribe while he was in office. 4951