Politics
GOP Committee Chair Wants To ‘Invalidate’ Biden’s Marijuana Pardons Through Autopen Investigation, Democratic Congressman Says
A Democratic congressman is accusing a top GOP colleague of attempting to “invalidate thousands of lawful pardons” that former President Joe Biden issued to people who’ve committed federal marijuana possession offenses.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)–the lead sponsor of a cannabis legalization bill called the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act—responded to comments from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who applauded President Donald Trump’s recent cannabis rescheduling order and recognized racial disparities in marijuana enforcement.
Comer said that there’s evidence of “injustice” in cannabis prohibition, stating that a person can “make the argument that it’s racist” given that “there aren’t many people that aren’t minorities that are in prison for marijuana possession.” He made similar remarks in September.
Nadler, who previously chaired the House Judiciary Committee said his colleague is “right” that there’s “deep injustice in how our outdated marijuana laws have been enforced.”
However, he said, simply moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) as Trump’s order directs the attorney general to do “won’t end federal criminal penalties, won’t expunge records, and won’t free people still imprisoned solely for low-level marijuana offenses.”
“If Chair Comer wants to help end this injustice, I invite him to cosponsor my MORE Act, which would decriminalize marijuana and begin repairing the harm these policies have caused,” Nadler said, referring to his bill that passed the House twice under Democratic majorities.
He added that he’d urge Comer to “stop trying to invalidate thousands of lawful pardons granted to people convicted of low-level marijuana offenses.”
That latter point raised some eyebrows, especially given Comer’s relative openness to cannabis reform compared to many of his GOP colleagues. But it appears to be related to a broader committee investigation into Biden’s use of an “autopen” to approve clemency actions without personally signing each individual order.
The chairman hasn’t said it’s his intention to invalidate the cannabis pardons, but Nadler evidently believes they could be caught up in the broader review into the former president’s pardon actions.
Marijuana Moment reached out to Nadler’s office about the issue, and a staffer shared a copy of the committee report titled “The Biden Autopen Presidency,” acknowledging that while it “focuses heavily on President Biden’s pardons issued toward the end of his Administration, it goes much farther.”
“The report states that if an executive action was signed via autopen without clear written proof that the President personally approved it, the action shouldn’t count,” the staffer said. “It also calls on the Justice Department to review ALL of President Biden’s executive actions, particularly clemency actions, to determine whether any should be undone.”
As part of the investigation, the committee also cited comments from several former Biden staffers who shed light on the mass marijuana pardons and cannabis rescheduling process they helped facilitate, revealing the extent to which they were involved in broader clemency actions that are under scrutiny by GOP leaders.
Again, whether the cannabis clemency actions could be reversed as part of a broader review into the “autopen” issue remains to be seen. President Donald Trump during his first term issued various drug-related pardons and has said he doesn’t feel people should be in jail over simple marijuana possession.
What’s more, altering the cannabis clemency record of the Biden administration would seem to be at odds with Trump’s recent executive order directing the attorney general to expeditiously complete the marijuana rescheduling process.
But while Nadler argued that Comer could better address enforcement disparities by supporting his MORE Act, the chances of that legislation passing under the Republican-controlled Congress is doubtful.
Comer’s own position is that, while it seems apparent that there’s racial bias in cannabis criminalization, Democrats’ more sweeping proposals to promote equity as part of a legalization plan go too far.
Comer’s office did not respond to Marijuana Moment’s requests for comment for this story.
Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
