When former President Donal Trump issued more than 140 acts of clemency in his final hours in the White House, he was exercising a presidential power that has its roots in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

“George Washington, his first pardons were — ironically enough — two individuals that participated in the Pennsylvania Whiskey Rebellion,” said Tessa Provins, assistant professor of political science at the University of Pittsburgh.

In 1794, a protest over a whiskey excise tax turned violent in Washington County and elsewhere in the region with a series of attacks on tax collectors and others. Two men — John Mitchell and Phillip Weigel — were convicted of treason and sentenced to death by hanging until they were pardoned by Washington.

“George Washington was very much a president who was trying to figure out what it meant to enact many of the powers of his office, and he thought issuing these pardons would set the standard for future presidencies,” said Kristen Coopie, director of pre-law at Duquesne University School of Law.

The Constitution gives the president “power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”

The two most common forms of clemency are pardons and commutations. A pardon absolves a person of a crime, while a commutation reduces the sentence but does not change the fact of conviction.

The U.S. Department of Justice publishes clemency statistics dating to 1900, which show that pardons and commutations used to be a lot more common.

Despite Wednesday’s flurry of clemency acts, Trump issued fewer than most presidents, with 206 over the course of his presidency. That’s more than George H.W. Bush (77) and George W. Bush (200) but fewer than every other president since at least William McKinley.

Trump averaged about 52 a year over his term in office, though most were issued during his final day. By that metric, he is just ahead of Ronald Reagan, who issued 405 acts of clemency over his eight-year term for an average of about 51 a year.

It used to be common for presidents to issue well over 100 acts of clemency a year. Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued 3,796 during his 12 years in office, an average of 316 a year.

That changed with Reagan, whose tough stance on crime didn’t jibe with a freehanded approach to pardons.

Later presidents, especially Republicans, followed his lead.

“When you have Republicans running on a law-and-order platform, it’s hard to grant clemency to people who have violated laws,” Coopie said.

Many presidents have made controversial pardon decisions, but Provins and Coopie agree Trump’s last-minute acts of clemency are unique.

“Every president has had some kind of controversy regarding their pardons, but not to the level we saw during the Trump administration,” Coopie said.

Presidents traditionally work through the Department of Justice to process clemency applications. Some of Trump’s pardons did not go through the usual petition process, according to the Department of Justice.

Those pardoned include Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist who has been charged with fraud, and major Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy, convicted of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“Trump seemingly is pardoning his friends and his allies in many of these cases,” Provins said.

Although Trump’s situation is unusual, it bears many similarities to Bill Clinton’s final day in office, in which he issued 140 pardons and several commutations.

Many of these were controversial, such as the pardon of Marc Rich — a major Democratic donor convicted of tax evasion — and Roger Clinton, the president’s brother who was convicted on drug charges. Roger Clinton was arrested for drunken driving less than a year after the pardon.

Coopie said presidents have learned it is often best to wait until the last minute to issue controversial pardons.

“If the pardons have some controversy to them, you don’t want to blow your political capital on a pardon when you might need it for a policy fight,” she said.

Barack Obama bucked the trend started by Reagan, issuing 1,927 acts of clemency during his presidency. He issued only a handful in his first term. But in 2014, Obama and the Department of Justice launched an initiative that encouraged nonviolent convicts who had served at least 10 years of their sentences to apply for clemency. Commutations and pardons went through the roof.

Provins said Obama’s initiative was an attempt to recognize changing cultural values as society’s views on nonviolent drug crimes became less harsh.

Clemency represents a way for the executive branch to check the power of the judicial branch, Provins said.

“It comes down to checks and balances, which are a fundamental part of the U.S. government,” she said.

The U.S. Department of Justice publishes clemency statistics going back to 1900. Here’s a look at how past presidents compare.

• Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909, 1,099 acts of clemency, average 137 per year

• William Howard Taft, 1909-1913, 831 acts of clemency, average 208 per year

• Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921, 2,827 acts of clemency, average 353 per year

• Warren G. Harding, 1921-1923, 773 acts of clemency, average 387 per year

• Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1929, 1,692 acts of clemency, average 282 per year

• Herbert Hoover, 1929-1933, 1,198 acts of clemency, average 300 per year

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945, 3,796 acts of clemency, average 316 per year

• Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953, 2,044 acts of clemency, average 264 per year

• Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953-1961, 1,157 acts of clemency, average 145 per year

• John F. Kennedy, 1961-1963, 575 acts of clemency, average 203 per year

• Lyndon Johnson, 1963-1969, 1,187 acts of clemency, average 230 per year

• Richard Nixon, 1969-1974, 926 acts of clemency, average 166 per year

• Gerald Ford, 1974-1977, 409 acts of clemency, average 169 per year

• Jimmy Carter, 1977-1981, 566 acts of clemency, average 142 per year

• Ronald Reagan, 1981-1989, 406 acts of clemency, average 51 per year

• George H.W. Bush, 1989-1993, 77 acts of clemency, average 19 per year

• Bill Clinton, 1993-2001, 459 acts of clemency, average 57 per year

• George W. Bush, 2001-2009, 200 acts of clemency, average 25 per year

• Barack Obama, 2009-2017, 1,927 acts of clemency, average 241 per year

• Donald Trump, 2017-2021, 206 acts of clemency, average 52 per year

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)