Washington and Lee Law professor Nora Demleitner authored an op-ed in the February 13 edition of USA Today, entitled “Don’t Be Fooled by Slick Ad. Most People Given Clemency by Trump Don’t Look Like Alice Marie Johnson.”
In the piece, Demleitner critiques as a political ploy President Trump’s Super Bowl ad that publicized the early release of an African-American grandmother who had served 21 years of a life sentence for a nonviolent drug conviction. Demleitner highlights the more numerous examples of white-collar and politically connected criminals benefiting from the President’s powers of commutation and pardon. She also distinguishes such clemency from the recent legislative initiative to reduce prison terms for some federal convicts under the First Step Act.
Demleitner is a noted scholar on topics of criminal law and procedure, including sentencing. She is an editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter and lead author of the casebook, Sentencing Law and Policy: Cases, Statutes and Guidelines. Connect with her on Twitter: @NDemleitner.
