How do pardon rates per year compare across recent presidents (Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden)?
Executive summary
Presidents vary widely in annual pardon/clemency activity: Joe Biden granted 4,245 acts of clemency over four years — more than any president on record — and far outpaced recent predecessors (Pew Research) [1]. Donald Trump’s second-term and 2025 activity includes large mass and individual actions — reports cite roughly 1,500 pardons tied to Jan. 6 and many thousands more across 2025 in some tallies — but official Department of Justice lists and contemporary reporting show high variance in how those numbers are counted [2] [3] [4].
1. How scholars and the DOJ count “pardons” — different metrics, different stories
Comparisons depend on what’s counted: the DOJ’s Office of the Pardon Attorney compiles formal “clemency grants” and maintains statistics [5], while media and compendia may include mass proclamations, commutations, and class-wide pardons that the Pardon Attorney excludes [2] [4]. Pew’s analysis of DOJ data concluded Biden’s 4,245 acts of clemency in four years exceed any 20th‑century president’s total [1]. That same divergence explains why one outlet’s “roughly 1,500 pardons” for Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025 proclamation can sit alongside DOJ pages that document the specific clemency actions processed through the Pardon Attorney [2] [3].
2. Biden’s record: quantity and context
Pew’s late‑January 2025 analysis reports Biden granted 4,245 acts of clemency in his four‑year term, a cumulative total larger than Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 3,796 over 12 years, making Biden the highest on record by that DOJ‑sourced tally [1]. Pew emphasized the comparison to century‑long records and used OPA/DOJ data for the assessment [1]. Available sources do not mention a year‑by‑year breakdown for every Biden year in the provided snippets; they state the four‑year aggregate [1].
3. Trump’s approach: mass proclamations, individual pardons, and reporting gaps
Reporting shows Trump issued sweeping and sometimes unconventional pardons in 2025 — including a January 20, 2025 action described in some sources as “roughly 1,500 pardons” and multiple high‑profile individual pardons later in the year [2] [4]. The Justice Department hosts a page listing clemency grants tied to Trump’s 2025 actions, but media analyses and investigative accounts highlight disputes about the scope and drafting of some mass proclamations, and about whether all affected persons are captured in DOJ tables [3] [6]. Journalistic accounts also document continuing coverage through late 2025 of large totals and political patterns in Trump’s pardons [7] [8].
4. Recent predecessors (Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama) — lower annual averages
Pew’s comparison places Biden well ahead of modern presidents; it also notes that only George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush granted fewer acts of clemency than Trump in the modern period reviewed [1]. Ballotpedia and DOJ historical statistics show long‑term averages and emphasize that presidential pardon totals have declined over time compared with early 20th‑century presidencies such as Franklin Roosevelt’s [9] [5]. The provided sources do not give a full year‑by‑year table for Clinton, Bush, and Obama in the snippets here; DOJ historical statistics exist but are not quoted in detail in these results [5]. Therefore, precise per‑year rates for each of those presidents are not found in current reporting provided.
5. Why per‑year comparisons can mislead — end‑of‑term surges and proclamations
Presidents often concentrate clemency acts at the end of their terms; class proclamations or mass pardons (some not processed through the OPA) complicate apples‑to‑apples annual comparisons [5] [4]. The Pardon Attorney’s website warns that some categories — for example, class proclamations or actions not processed through the OPA — are excluded from standard statistics, which creates gaps between DOJ tallies and media counts [5]. The Guardian and other outlets flagged ambiguities about the drafting and potential sweep of certain Trump proclamations, illustrating how legal language can expand or limit who is counted [6].
6. Competing narratives and what to watch for in the data
Pew frames Biden’s clemency record as historically large using DOJ sources [1]. Other sources emphasize Trump’s novel uses of mass pardons, political patterns and potential legal ambiguities in scope [2] [6] [8]. Readers should note institutional motives: DOJ’s Office of the Pardon Attorney documents cases processed through its office and will undercount proclamations not routed through it [5]; media outlets track public proclamations and political context and may report higher counts or emphasize different legal interpretations [2] [4].
Limitations: this analysis relies only on the provided sources. Detailed year‑by‑year numeric tables for Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama and a strict per‑year median for each presidency are not present in the supplied snippets; those specific annual numbers are therefore not asserted here [5] [1].