New Governor Pat McCrory may be more focused on economic policy than on the courts and criminal justice, but he’s still done several things in his first days in office that might interest readers, like rescinding Governor Perdue’s executive order creating a judicial nominating commission; naming former legislator – and former probation officer – David Guice to head the Division of Adult Correction; and announcing that he would meet with legislative leaders in an effort to close “loopholes” in the video sweepstakes ban. In other news: Presidential clemency. Speaking of executive terms of office, President Obama has been in the news for issuing just 22 pardons during his first four years in power. Check out this commentary at Sentencing Law & Policy, which claims that the only presidents to make less use of their clemency authority in their first terms were “George Washington, who probably did not have many clemency petitions to address during the first few years of the nation’s existence; William Henry Harrison, who died of pneumonia a month after taking office; and James Garfield, who was shot four months into his presidency and died that September.” I am not sure what the “right” number of pardons or commutations is, and I do not know how helpful such historical comparisons are. Fortunately, the New York Times knows – and it will tell you that President Obama has been insufficiently merciful in this editorial. DWI blood draws and exigent circumstances. The United States Supreme Court heard oral argument this week [...]
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