From a Hill friend:
I read your post on how Conyers is going to hold a hearing on clemency, and how such power “may be abused.”
Is this the same Conyers that voted AGAINST a resolution condemning Clinton for giving clemency to TERRORISTS?
[EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE CONGRESS THAT THE PRESIDENT SHOULD NOT HAVE GRANTED CLEMENCY TO TERRORISTS — (House of Representatives – September 09, 1999)]
NOTE: The resolution (H.Con.Res. 180) passed by a vote of 311-41; 72 voted ‘present.’ (Tally available here.)
And here’s what Conyers had to say THEN:
“Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to what is clearly a politically motivated and totally senseless resolution. We are a Nation of laws, and if any matter is abundantly clear by our Constitution, it is that the President has the sole and unitary power to grant clemency. Is there any Member that does not understand that? Every President has the sole and unitary power to grant clemency…Now the reason that he has the power to grant clemency is that it is that the President is uniquely positioned to consider the law and the facts that apply in each request for clemency.”