Note that this only applies to federal lands and DC, which is where Biden’s authority ends.
If you are in a state where MJ is illegal you can still be busted for it.
And “no federal prisoners are eligible for release as a result of Friday’s pardon.” Still pretty cool.
Well, technically, Marijuana possession is illegal under the federal system everywhere in the U.S. The federal prosecutors usually leave it to the states to prosecute simple possession cases (except on federal lands) and go after growers and distributors primarily. So, this pardon probably covers all or almost all of the actual people prosecuted by the feds, but it is not “where Biden’s aurhority ends.”
This is true and good to remember.
For those of us who live in a state where it’s legal, it means that the other side of it (the federal enforcement threat) is no longer a factor.
Probably true for simple possession, but as pointed out upthread, the law remains on the books and someone violating it tomorrow has not been pardoned
I hadn’t considered that part, yeah.
Nice! I was waiting for someone to do this. Now, Newsom needs to do the same.
What amuses me is how much time and resources the “small government” uses for similar things, like undocumented aliens.
And now this:
This has an interesting side note-
In a separate development on Thursday, an ex-FBI informant pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, which had led to investigations into the Biden family.
Alexander Smirnov acknowledged that he concocted “fabrications” about Biden and his son accepting bribes from Ukrainian energy firm Burisma. The claim was seized upon by Republicans in Congress as proof of corruption.
I assume the incoming Trump administration takes a dim view on weed and will keep it on schedule one right next to heroin? Then again, isn’t Elon Musk a marijuana enthusiast? Sure doesn’t seem very efficient to chase after pot smokers now, does it?
Not sure which of the multiple “pardon” threads this would go best in, but I saw he commuted the sentence of the queen of Dixon - Rita Crundwell! Truly a despicable person who harmed many.
She has served iirc 12 of her 20 years, and half is normal for white collar crimes. She was already on home confinement due to poor health.
Is it too late for Biden to rescind a commutation?
One of the people whose sentences Joe commuted is Michael Conahan, the “cash-for-kids” judge who was paid to send kids to a for-profit prison.
I’m thinking, charitably, that this was just a mistake- on paper, Conahan probably looked like he fit all of the boxes: non-violent, not too many years left on his sentence, under home arrest since COVID… but it’s still an insanely bad look. If there’s anyone who deserves to rot under under a prison, it’s a judge who sent kids to prison for money.
First off, of course- how the hell did this guy get only 17.5 years? Secondly, how the hell did he get house arrest? Commuting what little is left of his sentence is really a slap in the face of all of those kids whose lives he ruined.
So yeah, my question is- can… or, perhaps, more to the point, will- Biden reverse this guy’s commutation?
In my limited, yet rigorous, youthful experiments, I deduced that the average subject became suprisingly inefficient in all tasks, but two:
- the manipulation of common household items, fruits and vegetables into a make-shift pipe or bong, with the intention of smoking to the point where the most efficient posture is a slump in a chair with eyes closed, and/or
- possibly preceded by a burst of creative energy wherein multiple edible foodstuffs are combined in such a way that a “normal” person would find absolutely inedible, but the intrepid stoners eat anyway
I can see Elon going either way. Or both.
I think he got house arrest along with a huge group of people during COVID who were deemed to be more susceptible because of age and/or health condition. I agree he should have been sent to SuperMax for life.
never mind
Yeah, this one really bothers me. IMO, that guy should spend the rest of his life in prison. Commuting the rest of his sentence is terrible.
Did Biden give a specific rationale for pardoning Conahan? You know Republicans are going to be running attack ads based off of this, however hypocritical the GOP stance may be.
Biden’s NEVER gonna get reelected now!
My guess is that he is old- 75?-, sick, and they cant keep him in prison due to Covid anyway, he is on home release. He has served half his sentence, which is about normal for a white collar crime.