In his first term, Donald Trump granted 237 requests for clemency. Barack Obama granted 1,927 over two terms. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, also two-term presidents, granted 200 and 459 requests, respectively. George H.W. Bush only granted 77 but you’d have to go back another 20 presidents to find one who granted under 100 pardons and that was James Garfield who pardoned zero people but was also assassinated the same year he took office. Dating back to George Washington, U.S. presidents have granted hundreds of thousands of clemency requests, with little pushback.
In the waning days of his sole term as President of the United States, Joe Biden has so far granted just 11 effective pardons. This number does not take into account the 6,500 “pardons” that President Biden granted on October 6th, 2022, erasing all federal charges for “simple possession” of cannabis, a stunt made plenty of headlines but freed zero prisoners.
Included in those 11 is Beverly Ann Ibn-Tamas, convicted of Second Degree Murder in 1974. The list also includes two Venezuelans as part of a prisoner exchange, as well as a Colombian businessman Alex Saab (money laundering), in another prisoner exchange with Venezuela. It also includes three pardons for Charlie Byrnes Jackson (bootlegging whiskey), Gary Parks Davis (cocaine trafficking), Edward Lincoln De Coito III (cannabis trafficking), and John Dix Nock III (cannabis cultivation). Biden also pardoned Amin Hasanzadeh, convicted on seven counts of conspiracy to unlawfully export technology to Iran and defraud the United States.
They go free, several of them not even U.S. citizens and some of them literal threats to our national security, but Edwin Rubis remains in federal prison, 27 years of exemplary behavior into a 40 year sentence for non-violent cannabis trafficking-related charges from the 1990s.
The president’s power to grant pardons or reprieves comes from the U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 2). While there have been challenges, courts have repeatedly upheld the president’s authority to grant clemency without restrictions. A pardon can erase a conviction, treating it as if it never happened, and can be granted at any time – whether before or after the sentence is served. A reprieve (or commutation), on the other hand, reduces the severity or length of a sentence but does not erase the conviction.
Joe Biden has been accused by his political opponents of “weaponizing” the Department of Justice and the rule of law to serve his own agenda, both personally and politically. The truth is that as a strict traditionalist, the current President has vowed to deny his own son a pardon to spare him from a partisan-fueled charge of purchasing a firearm while on federally banned substances, then allegedly lying about it on the application for the purchase.
Meanwhile, the incoming President is making vows of his own – to actually weaponize the Department of Justice to go after his critics and opponents, and to immediately grant sweeping pardons to hundreds of convicted Jan6 protestors, charged co-conspirators, and perhaps even himself.
Where does Edwin Rubis fit into these outgoing and incoming decisions and agendas? There are hundreds more prisoners like him, doing hard time for non-violent cannabis crimes, seeking a presidential reprieve. Does President Biden hear them? Will he act? Time is short for Biden, but not for Edwin Rubis, not without clemency.
To learn more visit https://beardbrospharms.com/media-room-2/edwin-rubis/ or contact: freedomgrowforever88@gmail.com
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About Freedom Grow
Freedom Grow is an all-volunteer non-profit 501c3 organization helping cannabis prisoners regain freedom while supporting their sacrifices through ’The Wish Program’. The Wish Program helps prisoners with commissary money, books, magazines, family outreach, and public education.
About Edwin Rubis
Edwin Rubis is serving a 40 year sentence in federal prison for conspiracy to possess and distribute marijuana. Convicted in 1998 on these nonviolent charges, Edwin has watched from behind bars as states have continued to legalize cannabis for recreational use and reap the benefits.
About Beard Bros Pharms
Beard Bros Pharms is an award-winning multinational cannabis brand. They also provide industry information, insights, and guidance to cannabis professionals and consumers via beardbrospharms.com, their weekly newsletters, and social media presence.
With over two decades of cannabis production and grassroots advocacy and activism, Beard Bros combines deep legacy cannabis experience with a commitment to quality and justice.
This news article contains the opinion of Bill Levers, and while subjective, the facts of the story do not intend to present false or misleading information on the convicted individual or the legal matter and facts herein.
