Here's what happened to the pardons - They came in mid-night regulations

[debbierlus]

http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/589

However, Obama froze all regulations from taking effect until he could review them.

From the article....full story at link below snip:

The one foregone conclusion about the outgoing Bush Administration on the part of the media was that the amount of last-minute pardons would be sizeable, and their content would be controversial. Click here for a compiled list of journalists and others assuring readers this would happen; it's a great illustration of how hard we were all hyperventilating about pardons in these final weeks.


But it was a frightening thought. Bush has a lot of nasty friends, but the scariest scenario was that Bush would proactively pardon himself and others in his administration to avoid later prosecution on a host of illegal activities allegedly carried out over the past eight years.

Instead, Bush's last act in that arena was to commute the sentences of two border guards who shot a drug dealer and proceeded to hide the evidence of their actions. Now that Elvis has officially left the building, we can say with surprise that the consensus was flawed.

Because of the chilling legal implications of the imaginary preemptive pardon scenario, many are happily relieved that the former president decided to forgo his right to issue pardons to his own administration. In fact, Bush didn't use his pardon power nearly as much as he could have. The Wall Street Journal notes that Bush's 200 pardons and commutations over eight years are the fewest in modern history.

However, some note Bush's preeminence in a different type of last-minute preemptive pardon program. Federal agencies under Bush have pushed through so many last-minute rule changes that it amounts to a large scale pardon of industry and bad regulators. Though we haven't yet seen the historians weigh in on the issue, the Bush Administration's use of so-called midnight regulations has been deemed "unprecedented."


http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/589

[sohndrsmith]

1. as you clarify, ... which Obama put the brakes on. Aye, there's the rub..

I wish we'd get rid of the whole last-minute pardon thing. If you can't legitimately pardon someone during your presidency because it would be inappropriate and there would be a backlash, then you shouldn't be allowed to do so on the last day of your term just because you can get away with it.

It's dumb and I wish the practice could be eliminated. That said, pardons that should be given in the spirit of righting a wrong or correcting an unjust penalty, then they should be done whenever this becomes evident.

It's wrong to keep this solely because we expect it and don't question it - for "tradition's sake" Bah. Wrong answer.