About
Mark Osler is a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minnesota and a former federal prosecutor who founded the nation's first law-school clinic devoted to federal commutations. The Clemency Resource Center he co-founded with Rachel Barkow produced 96 commutations under the Obama clemency initiative.
He joined the 2025 "Pardons & Expungement" panel on the distinction between presidential pardons and expungement, and the push for federal expungement legislation, and returned in 2026 for the panel on what the clemency process asks of the people who go through it.
At the White Collar Conference
Mark Osler explained how clemency, commutation, remission, pardons and state expungement differ. He said the Trump administration had focused disproportionately on white-collar cases and waived restitution in some commutations, that lobbying had largely replaced the petition process until the White House pulled back in February 2026, and that grants have been sparse since. He told applicants that recent presidents have granted between 3 and 10 percent of requests and that a grant usually takes patience over several attempts.
“Clemency is always a long game.”
Watch at 25:34
“You need to have rational expectations of an irrational process.”
Watch at 29:26
“A long shot is better than no shot.”
Watch at 29:37
Chapters
- 0:00 Introducing the panel
- 3:40 Clemency, pardon, commutation and expungement
- 6:36 The state of federal clemency now
- 9:20 White-collar cases and waived restitution
- 11:41 Lobbying replaces the petition process
- 15:05 Alex on applying for a pardon
- 20:00 Alex on the white-collar label
- 22:26 Alex on time away from family
- 24:49 Mark on the outlook for pardons
- 27:34 Advice for pardon applicants
- 30:34 The odds of a grant
With Gregg Johnson (moderator) and Alex N.
Mark Osler laid out the types of clemency, the categorical grants under Biden and Trump, and what a pardon petition faces now. He explained how expungement differs from clemency, covered the proposed process for restoring gun rights under 18 U.S.C. 925(c), and argued that culture, mercy and humility drive lasting change.
“Culture eats policy for lunch. And culture creates policy.”
Watch at 22:14
“As a society, we have to have the humility to see the truth that people change.”
Watch at 23:27
“A long shot is better than no shot.”
Watch at 37:36
Chapters
- 0:00 Jeff Grant introduces the panel and the Federal Expungement Initiative
- 2:51 Mark Osler on the history and types of clemency
- 9:19 Biden and Trump clemency grants
- 15:38 What a pardon petition faces now
- 19:46 Expungement vs. clemency, and restoring gun rights
- 22:14 Mark Osler on culture, mercy and humility
- 24:04 How the Federal Expungement Initiative started
- 25:30 Todd Haugh on white collar offenders and pardon data
- 29:49 Mark Osler's clemency clinic
- 32:11 Advice on applying for a pardon and hiring help
With Jeff Grant (moderator) and Todd Haugh
Join us in fall 2027.
The fourth annual White Collar Conference is planned for fall 2027, virtual on Zoom and open to all.