The Supreme Court today recommended a pardon for Susan Burton for three felony convictions.
A California governor is constitutionally required to get the consent of a majority of the Supreme Court before he or she can pardon, or commute the sentence of, a twice-convicted felon. This was the first — and, so far, the only — clemency request by Governor Gavin Newsom.
The court’s docket says the clemency recommendation included a statement by Justice Goodwin Liu. We haven’t seen the statement yet. It might have something to do with an apparent disconnect between the court’s stated deferential standard of review and its unexplained rejection last year of 10 clemency requests by then-Governor Jerry Brown, the first rejections in almost 90 years.
Public information about the Burton pardon request is sparse. But that could change depending on how the court rules on a pending motion by Newsom to keep the request file confidential.
[August 7 updates:
Justice Liu invites resubmission of clemency requests that the Supreme Court rejected last year
Maura Dolan reports in the Los Angeles Times on Susan Burton’s life, including her post-prison work “to help other former female inmates adjust to life without bars and avoid crime.”]
[August 8 update: Governor Newsom didn’t waste any time. Yesterday, he issued Burton’s pardon, along with six others that didn’t need Supreme Court approval.]
