JACOB SULLUM: Obama has not issued more pardons and commutations than any other president or the most in a single day.

The [New York] Times called Obama’s total of 1,324 pardons (which clear people’s records, typically years after they have completed their sentences) and commutations (which let prisoners go free early) “by far the largest use of the presidential power to show mercy in the nation’s history.” As clemency expert P.S. Ruckman Jr. pointed out on his blog, that was clearly wrong. Several presidents have issued more than 1,324 pardons and commuations, including Harry Truman (2,031), FDR (3,307), Calvin Coolidge (1,546), and Woodrow Wilson (2,453).

The Times also falsely suggested that there’s nothing unusual about the dramatic backloading of Obama’s clemency actions, saying “most presidents—including Mr. Obama—have waited until the end of their presidencies before issuing pardons and making grants of commutation.” In fact, Ruckman noted, “most presidents have granted clemency early in their administration and continued to do so every month of the term.” Obama, by contrast, has had many months and two entire years with no clemency grants at all. So far he has issued 94 percent of his pardons and commutations in the last two years of his presidency and 81 percent in his last year. Ruckman notes that the number of clemency actions this year is about 1,300 percent higher than the average for the previous three years, compared to an average fourth-year surge of 73 percent for all other presidential terms.

Why the backlog?