The 19 pardons issues by Bush this week -- including the one given Brooklyn developer, Isaac Toussie, which was hastily withdrawn -- were not, apparently, vetted by the Justice Department. Nothing illegal about that, but that withdrawn pardon for Toussie could poison the well for future pardon seekers simply because DOJ was bypassed, according to a commentary in the New York Times. That ability to leave Justice out of the process means that there are occasions when a very justifiable pardon can be given at the last minute without the usual time-consuming review.
"The decision to pull back the pardon could undermine other efforts to bypass the Justice Department and its labyrinth of rules, given how Mr. Toussie’s pardon was found to be defective by the very fact of having averted review by the department."
