President Obama wants to expand the executive pardon system, according to a new report from Liz Goodwin of Yahoo News.
A senior administration official told Goodwin that the President could grant clemency to “hundreds, perhaps thousands” of non-violent drug criminals.
Additionally, Goodwin wrote that Obama has spent time during his second term examining the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Department of Justice, working with Eric Holder to devise a system more capable of handling large numbers of pardon requests. Holder has already composed a memo describing a “more robust use of the pardon power” as part of Obama’s effort to reform the criminal justice system.