How to read a presidential clemency warrant

Anatomy of a warrant

Every federal clemency action is recorded on a paper warrant issued by the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Each warrant identifies the recipient, names the offense by statute and conviction date, and states the action: pardon, commutation, remission, or reprieve.

Where the records live

• The Office of the Pardon Attorney publishes lists of clemency recipients organized by presidential administration.
• Proclamation text since 1936 appears in the Federal Register.
• Pre-1893 warrants are held by the National Archives in Record Group 204.

What we publish, and what we don’t

PardonInfo pages cite the warrant first. We quote primary sources where direct quotation suffices; we never paraphrase warrant language when the language itself is the record. Editorial framing belongs to other publications.