Dafna Linzer was a senior reporter at ProPublica. She is the author of the ongoing series "Shades of Mercy" on racial bias in presidential pardons. The series was a finalist for Harvard University's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and honored by Investigative Reporters and Editors. Her work on Guantanamo and detention in the Obama presidency won the 2010 Overseas Press Club award for General Excellence and received honorable mention for the American Bar Associationâs Silver Gavel award.
The Justice Department's inspector general says David Margolis, an associate deputy attorney general, did not properly supervise the pardon attorney on the Clarence Aaron case.
A Department of Justice Inspector General report concluded that the head of the pardons office may have mishandled the case of Clarence Aaron.
Mystery solved. Syria had requested to ferry attack helicopters from Russia over Iraq, but the flights hadn't happened. Now, the Iraqis say they denied permission.
Documents show that Syria asked Iraqiauthorities to grant air access to fly in refurbished attack helicopters fromRussia, putting a spotlight on Iraq's role in the nearly two-year conflict.
The records of overflight requests show more than 200 tons of "bank notes" from Moscow to Damascus.
Given few positive recommendations by the Justice Department, Obama has handed out pardons and commutations at a lower rate than any of his recent predecessors, a ProPublica analysis shows.
A review triggered by stories published by ProPublica and The Washington Post will test the effect of race on pardon decisions.
The prosecutor and trial judge urged federal officials to commute Clarence Aaron's sentence, but the Justice Department had other ideas.
Spurred by findings in a ProPublica investigation, former Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich pushes for a program to address inequities in the pardons process.
The questions from the House Judiciary Committee follow ProPublica's investigation into the Justice Department's pardon office and a finding of racial bias against minorities.
Former governor says pardons should be based on "Christian belief in repentance, forgiveness and redemption."
A state judge has blocked the release of 21 people, including five convicted of murder, who were pardoned by the outgoing governor. One issue is whether they had given sufficient public notice of their intent to seek release, allowing time for victims to comment.
Brushing aside objections from a senior Department of Justice official, the DOJ's pardon attorney sent a pardon application from Frank Vennes Jr. forward with a favorable recommendation only to find out that Vennes was under federal investigation.