Fact check: How does President Biden's pardon record compare to previous presidents?

1. A Record-Breaking Clemmency Count That Changes the Historical Baseline

Multiple contemporary analyses concluded that Biden’s clemency count exceeded that of any other president in the modern era, reporting a total of 4,245 acts of clemency over his term and describing that total as the highest since the start of the 20th century ^[1]. Those tallies combine various forms of executive clemency—commutations, pardons, and other acts—and the reporting emphasizes the numerical scale rather than legal nuance, which reshapes comparative historical narratives about presidential use of mercy powers ^[1]. The figures cited in January–February 2025 reporting provide the primary empirical claim used across outlets ^[2].

2. The Substance: Mass Commutations for Nonviolent Drug Offenses

Contemporary reports highlight that a substantial share of Biden’s commutations targeted nonviolent drug offenders, with nearly 2,500 sentences commuted according to January 2025 coverage ^[2]. Advocates praised the move as a policy-driven effort to address sentencing disparities, while critics questioned process and transparency; reporting focused on the policy goals behind the clemency choices rather than isolated personal pardons, signaling an administration-level criminal justice agenda behind many of the acts ^[2]. The scale and concentration on nonviolent drug cases are central to understanding how Biden’s record differs qualitatively from past presidencies ^[2].

3. A Single-Day Surge and Institutional Reactions Inside the White House and DOJ

Reporting from mid-2025 documents an instance described as a record high for a single day of clemency actions that provoked concern within the White House and Justice Department, with internal communications indicating confusion about paperwork and authorization flows ^{[6] [3]}. Coverage noted that lawyers and officials scrambled to create documentary trails after the announcements, suggesting operational strain in executing an unusually large volume of clemency decisions simultaneously ^[3]. Those accounts frame part of the controversy as administrative and procedural, not solely political.

4. Disputes Over Who Authorized Decisions and Political Pushback

Following the large-scale grants, reporting recorded conflicting narratives: aides and lawyers appeared bewildered, while President Biden publicly insisted he personally made every clemency decision, rejecting claims that staff acted without his knowledge ^{[3] [4] [5]}. Republican critics seized on internal confusion to allege inappropriate delegation or favoritism, while administration defenders said the mass actions were deliberative and policy-motivated, portraying GOP scrutiny as a partisan effort to shift focus from other issues ^{[4] [5]}. These dueling accounts illustrate how procedural questions became political ammunition.

5. Comparison with Previous Presidencies: Numbers vs. Norms

Analysts juxtaposed Biden’s raw numbers with prior presidents’ clemency records, emphasizing sheer volume as the distinguishing metric ^[1]. That comparison downplays different legal contexts: prior presidencies often issued fewer acts but sometimes included high-profile, politically sensitive pardons; Biden’s pattern foregrounded mass relief for a specific offender class. This contrast underscores that a presidency’s clemency legacy can be judged by quantity, targeted policy intent, or controversy surrounding individual cases, producing multiple legitimate comparison frameworks ^{[1] [7]}.

6. Controversy Over Personal and Preemptive Pardons Versus Policy-Based Commutations

Coverage highlighted distinctions between preemptive pardons and pardons for individuals linked to the president—which drew significant controversy—and broader commutation programs aimed at systemic concerns ^[7]. Critics likened some pardons to politically motivated acts, while proponents pointed to commutations for nonviolent offenses as deliberate criminal justice reform. These two threads—individual pardons and broad commutations—generate different public reactions and legal questions, and they complicate simple comparisons of “most pardons” as uniformly positive or negative ^{[7] [2]}.

7. What the Record Means Going Forward: Institutional, Political, and Legal Implications

The record numbers and procedural friction reported in 2025 suggest lasting impacts: agencies may revise clemency workflows to handle volume, Congress and watchdogs may demand clearer standards for high-volume clemency, and future presidents will be measured against both numeric precedent and procedural transparency ^{[3] [6]}. Partisan narratives are likely to persist, with Republicans focusing on alleged process lapses and Democrats emphasizing policy-driven relief, leaving the public debate framed by both empirical totals and contested accounts of authorization ^{[4] [5]}.

8. Bottom Line: Facts, Context, and Competing Interpretations

Factually, contemporaneous reporting consistently states that Biden’s administration granted more acts of clemency than any modern president, including mass commutations for nonviolent drug offenses and a record single-day surge ^{[1] [2]}. Interpretation hinges on whether observers prioritize scale and policy intent or focus on the procedural and political controversies that followed; the available analyses provide both empirical data and conflicting narratives about how decisions were authorized and presented, leaving a complex legacy shaped by numbers, motives, and institutional responses ^{[3] [4] [5]}.