New ACS issue brief on the the federal pardon process

I just learned that the American Constitution Society (ACS) is putting out series of new Issue Briefs, under the heading “Toward a More Perfect Union: A Progressive Blueprint for the Second Term,” which seeks to offer ideas and proposals "to advance a vision consistent with the progressive themes President Obama raised in his second Inaugural Address."  And I am pleased to see that one of the initial publications in this series is authored by Margaret Colgate Love and is available at this link.  Here is how ACS describes this Issue Brief at this page:

ACS is pleased to distribute “Reinvigorating the Federal Pardon Process: What the President Can Learn from the States” by Margaret Colgate Love of the Law Office of Margaret Love and formerly of the Office of the U.S. Pardon Attorney.

The presidential exercise of the pardon power, or lack thereof, has been the subject of national conversation in recent months.   As Margaret Colgate Love describes in her Issue Brief, this much discussed, but not often used, executive power and process "has lost its vigor, its integrity, and its sense of purpose.”  The latest assessments of the federal pardon process suggest a process plagued by racial and class disparities, and in at least one case, misconduct on the part of the Pardon Attorney.

Rather than "live with a dysfunctional pardon process," Love identifies state pardon models that the President and federal justice system could adopt.  Highlighted for their “authority,” “accountability,” and "transparency," Love explains that these models are necessary responses to the "hard to understand and even harder to penetrate, operating in secret and accountable to no one" Justice Department Pardon Office.   According to Love, “there is not a single state whose pardon process is as poorly conceived and managed as the federal government’s.” The process must “evolve with the changing needs of the presidency and of the justice system,” Love concludes.

Some recent and a few older posts concerning federal clemency practices:

• Will Prez Obama's clemency record ever match his inaugural rhetoric?
• "Barack the Unmerciful: Obama's amazingly stingy clemency record"
• New York Times editorial assails Prez Obama's considerable clemency failings
• "Obama Has Granted Clemency More Rarely Than Any Modern President"
• Updated numbers on President Obama's disgraceful clemency record
• Noting President Obama's (still) stingy clemency record
• ProPublica reveals more ugliness in federal clemency process
• "Obama's Mercy Dearth"
• Los Angeles Times calls out our "no-pardon president"
• "A no-pardon Justice Department"
• Effective USA Today coverage of President Obama's clemency stinginess
• "Obama should exercise the pardon power"
• NYTimes op-ed assailing Obama's pathetic pardon practices