Congressman Cohen Welcomes President Obama’s Grant of Commutations to 79 Inmates Serving Unjustly Long Sentences

[MEMPHIS, TN] – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09), who has consistently urged President Obama to use his constitutional power to bring about justice through commutations and pardons, today welcomed President Obama’s decision to commute the sentences of 79 federal inmates for mostly non-violent drug related convictions, but urged the President to do more.

"While I welcome President Obama’s decision to commute the sentences of 79 drug offenders, I urge him to do more – much more – with his pardon power before his term expires, especially with regard to non-violent marijuana convictions. Medical marijuana is now legal in 28 states as well as the District of Columbia, and more than 63 million Americans live in states that have now approved recreational marijuana. The President should, of course, work with all deliberate speed to address the unjustly long sentences of those who were unfairly punished under the since repudiated crack vs. powder cocaine sentencing disparities. But he should also make sure to review non-violent marijuana sentences.”

Congressman Cohen has repeatedly called on the President to make broader use of his pardon and commutation powers to address injustices, including a February 2016 column in the Commercial Appeal calling for increased staffing at the White House Counsel’s Office to review clemency petitions, a May 2015 column in the Blue Nation Review on the need to bring fairness back to the criminal justice system, a November 2014 column that appeared in The Hill, repeatedly urging then-Attorney General Holder to address the issue, in a letter sent to the President in June 2013, in an August 2013 speech on Capitol Hill and in an August 2013 column that appeared in The Nation.

The Fair Sentencing Act, which was passed by Congress with Congressman Cohen’s co-sponsorship and signed into law by the President in 2010, marked a turning point in our nation’s approach to drug policy and was a crucial step toward eliminating the dramatic and unfair disparity between crack and powder cocaine mandatory minimum sentences. But, as the President has noted, it “came too late” for thousands of people who were sentenced before the law was passed and who are still serving sentences imposed under outdated laws. The bipartisan Sentencing Reform Act of 2015, which passed the House Judiciary Committee in November, would, in part, make the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive. Congressman Cohen is a cosponsor of this bill.