A Third of American Presidents Have Used Systematic Pardons. President Biden Should Do the Same for Marijuana Offenders.

President Joe BIden has long recognized that “too many people are incarcerated in the United States – and too many of them are black and brown”. Following the protests - both peaceful and violent - that erupted after the death of George Floyd, Biden said in May 2020 that “These last few days have laid bare that we are a nation furious at injustice. Every person of conscience can understand the rawness of the trauma people of color experience in this country, from the daily indignities to the extreme violence, like the horrific killing of George Floyd. Protesting such brutality is right and necessary. It’s an utterly American response. But burning down communities and needless destruction is not. Violence that endangers lives is not. Violence that guts and shutters businesses that serve the community is not.”

The Presidential pardon power was expressly created with the idea that the President can uniquely bring healing to a divided nation and quell the fury of those who may go beyond civil protest. In the Federalist 74, Alexander Hamilton said, ““... [I]n seasons of insurrection or rebellion, there are often critical moments, when a well-timed offer of pardon...may restore the tranquility of the commonwealth; and which, if suffered to pass unimproved, it may never be possible afterwards to recall.”

The history of the American Presidency is replete with examples of the pardon power being used for these ends. About a third of our Presidents, dating back to the beginning of our Republic, have used systematic pardons. Presidents Washington, Adams, Madison, & Buchanan pardoned participants in various rebellions and insurrections; Jefferson pardoned those convicted under the Alien and Sedition Acts; Lincoln & Johnson granted amnesty to former Confederates; Harrison & Cleveland pardoned bigamists of the Mormon Church; Theodore Roosevelt pardoned participants in the Phillippine insurrection; Wilson & Franklin Roosevelt pardoned thousands of alcohol felons; Coolidge pardoned military deserters in WWI; Truman pardoned convicts who served in the armed forces; Kennedy pardoned drug offenders sentenced to mandatory minimums; Ford & Carter pardoned violators of the Selective Service Act.

At this time in history, with states sanctioning legal marijuana commerce, and investors, corporations, and others becoming enriched by an industry while thousands are still serving time for marijuana possession, only President Biden can bring justice and healing for the nation by the use of a systematic pardon program for Americans who are or have been incarcerated for marijuana offenses.