President Ford issue conditional amnesty to draft dodgers once the war ended. In 1977, President Carter issued full amnesty to all Vietnam era draft dodgers.

According to experts at the time, some 50,000 draft dodgers remained in Canada even after Carter’s full amnesty.

UH-1D Helicopter used to deploy men in the Vietnam War

This pardon is most notable.

The pardon was apparently revoked after W learned that Toussie’s father had made various contributions to the Republican party and that the application for the pardon usurped the normal chain at the department of justice and the pardon attorney and wound up in the hands of white house counsel.

When you apply for a pardon with the Department of Justice, strong language appears on the application that you must wait five years after the conviction to apply for a pardon. When folks contact me, I usually won’t even do a pardon application unless the total government supervision has been expired for at least five years, let alone the conviction. The only exception to this is when the pardon clears up immigration issues, we will accept them. I digress. In the instant discussion, Mr. Toussie’s conviction wasn’t even close to the five year mark, not to mention the total period of supervision.

A significant question is posed about the illegality of W’s revocation. Does the president have the power to revoke a pardon? Apparently the answer is that if the filing of the actual paperwork has not been perfected by the pardon attorney at the department of justice, then the president can revoke the pardon.

Precedent exists regarding revocation of pardons. See In re De Puy, 7 F. Cas. 506, 510-11 (S.D.N.Y. 1869) (holding that a pardon can be revoked if the paperwork has not been perfected). Some experts prescribe to this theory as why W did not revoke Marc Rich’s pardon.

Fool me once, shame on you. Get your dad to donate money to the party and influence white house counsel behind the president’s back to get you pardoned, shame on you twice.

Toussie's Dad and W

Greenspun was convicted but served no time in jail. He was pardoned by John F. Kennedy in 1961.  Schwimmer was convicted but served no jail time. He was pardoned by Bill Clinton in 2000. Winters was convicted an served 18 months in federal prison. He was pardon on George W. Bush as part of Bush’s last day of pardons on January 1, 2009. Winters’ pardon was the first pardon of a deceased person since Henry Ossain Flipper by Clinton. The whole discussion of the posthumous pardon is obviously not much of discussion anymore.

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Once in prison, she worked with many young people to try to help them become active members of society. In fact, her work has been so influential she is considered by some to be an authority on the subject of re-integration from detention for women. Now that she is not in custody she has continued to worked with young women to help them re-enter society and have a positive impact on society.

Clinton commuted her sentence on November 21, 2000.

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Most notable was a fraud conviction for his involvement in a deal for a piece of land known as the Big Boquillas ranch. Before the Boquillas transaction, the Navajo and the Hopi were disputing a piece of land in Arizona. Boquillas was huge. If MacDonald purchased Boquillas for the Navajo, he wouldn’t have to worry if he lost the fight with the Hopi over the disputed lands. The argument justified the transaction.

The dispute is how he purchased the lands. At 9:50 a.m. on July 15, 1989, Tom Tracy and Bud Brown bought Big Boquillas for $26.2 million. At 9:55 a.m., on the same day, MacDonald bought the same land from Tracy and Brown for $33.4 million.

Later that year, MacDonald, who made $55k a year, was seen driving a new beamer.

At MacDonald’s trial in federal court, Brown testified that MacDonald was in on the deal. MacDonald was accused of accepting bribes and kickbacks. MacDonald was convicted.

MacDonald was convicted in tribal court too. He was given a pardon under Navajo law under a theory of hozhonji, which means the Beauty Way; to forgive.

Clinton pardoned many folks on his last day in office–that day in American history is notable on its own. At the urging of U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, MacDonald was on Clinton’s last day list.

Peter MacDonald - Chairman of the Navajo 1970, 1974, 1978, 1986

In 1971, Hoffa was given a conditional commutation by Nixon. The condition was that Hoffa not be involved in the teamsters and not be involved with unions for a period of ten years following his release from custody. Hoffa was unhappy with the condition and planned to challenge the condition of the commutation in court.

Before Hoffa got could start his challenge of the condition from Nixon, he went missing in 1975 in Michigan.

Jimmy Hoffa at Home

This pardon is noteworthy because Yarrow is an unmatched philanthropist. Yarrow has donated countless hours, ideas and his own money to various charities around the world. He started a program to educate young people not just on academics but how to act in society.

Often, potential clients ask us about their “chances” at getting a federal presidential pardon, and I often question them on their charitable givings of time and money because, I believe that these activities truly increase your chances for pardon consideration. Obviously, sex crimes are difficult cases, let alone pardons, but make no mistake that Yarrow’s charitable acts had an effect on his pardon.

Moving by Peter, Paul and Mary.

Rich fled to Switzerland. Subsequent to his flight, the United States Attorneys office stopped prosecuting tax cases based on a RICO theory and instead pursued the claims through civil remedies. Rich’s ex-wife made contributions to Bill Clinton’s presidential library. Rich made substantial contributions to Israeli charities.

Many pundits criticized Clinton saying this was a pardon for pay. Clinton responded that he consulted with tax professors Martin Ginsburg of Georgetown University Law Center and Bernard Wolfman of the Harvard Law School and concluded that Rich did not have a criminal intent in his actions (i.e. no mens rea).

The irony is that Rich’s lawyer was I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. We might have to give Scooter his own site. Guess the squeaky wheel does get the grease?

Marc Rich

The United States government trumped-up mail fraud charges against Garvey. He was convicted and exhausted all possible appeals. On February 8, 1925, he began serving a five year federal sentence in Atlanta. He began writing a book, and from that book we have his most famous quotation:

“Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm, look for me all around you, for, with God’s grace, I shall come and bring with me countless millions of black slaves who have died in America and the West Indies and the millions in Africa to aid you in the fight for Liberty, Freedom and Life.”

Coolidge commuted his sentence in November of 1927 and had him deported to Jamaica. If Coolidge could pardon this fellow in 1927, why hasn’t Obama made his move on Jack Johnson? Its 2009, right?

Marcus Garvey, author of, "First Message to the Negroes of the World From Atlanta Prison"