MORE FROM HUFFPOST
MORE FROM HUFFPOST
presidential pardons
Mr. Obama should seize this one remaining opportunity.
At hundreds of thousands of tables on Thursday, as there have been for decades, there will be places set for mothers, daughters, fathers, sons, cousins, nieces and nephews who are still in prison. I can only imagine how these families must feel to see their President use his desperately needed clemency powers to pardon a turkey.
The events of 9/11 changed everything. Because the United States had designated the PKK a terrorist organization in 1997 -- six years after Ibrahim had come to the United States -- the Bush administration denied his naturalization petition and initiated deportation proceedings against him.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
WHAT'S HAPPENING
In the case of Bernard Noble it seems that Louisiana's Governor Jindal has chosen not to show the compassion that our President has shown and instead ignores the injustice of Noble's case while he rots away in prison for 13 years for the possession of two joints.
President Obama tells HuffPost's Sam Stein about his plans for criminal justice reform and expanded use of his pardon power.
Mr. Obama, in ruling out prosecution for torture, may have thought he spared us bother, but actually he did us harm. By casting accountability into limbo, he makes possible government-sponsored torture in the future and prevents America from recovering the thing most precious: our good name.
For decades, Congress has implemented policies that distort America's criminal justice system and tip the scales of justice in favor of punishment over rehabilitation. As a matter of civil rights and basic justice, our criminal justice system must change.
