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Eric Holder Says Obama Still Has Time To Improve Pardon Record

Eric Holder Says Obama Still Has Time To Improve Pardon Record
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By 

Senior Justice Reporter, HuffPost

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WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 15: (AFP OUT) (L-R) U.S. President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano look on during the 32nd annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Service at the West Front Lawn at the U.S. Capitol May 15, 2013 in Washington, DC. President Barack Obama delivered remarks at the event, invoking the law enforcement officers who worked to bring the Boston Marathon bombing suspects to justice. (Photo by Olivier Douliery - Pool/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON -- It's a bit too soon to judge President Barack Obama on his terrible pardon record, Attorney General Eric Holder told a group of African-American newspaper columnists last week.

"We are at year five I guess of eight, so I would say hold on," Holder told members of the Trotter group, a national organization of black newspaper columnists. "If this was the eighth year and we were looking back, I think we would have something to discuss. But we are at a point where this president still has a power that is uniquely his."

As The Huffington Post pointed out last month, Obama has pardoned almost as many turkeys as he has drug offenders. He's pardoned 39 people and granted clemency less frequently than any other president in modern history. Holder was questioned last week about the administration's clemency rate as he discussed the administration's effort to reform the justice system.

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