After the President acts on a federal pardon or commutation, the public record and the working file are not the same thing. The grant list names the person. The petition, the reports, and the recommendation generally stay with the officials reviewing the case. A denial is not added to the grant tables, but the Pardon Attorney says an existing list of denied names is released when someone asks for it under the public-records statute.

What a grant puts on the public list

A pardon is the President's forgiveness for a federal offense. A commutation reduces a federal sentence that is still being served and leaves the conviction in place. Only the President can grant either one (U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 1).

The Pardon Attorney's FAQ, updated September 9, 2026, says a grant is a public record. After the President acts, the office's website lists:

  • the person's name;
  • the district of conviction;
  • the year of sentencing;
  • the offense; and
  • the date the President granted the request.

That information may also appear on the White House website and in a Department or White House press release. The current grants tables group entries by the date of the grant and list the name, district, sentence, and offense, with a link to the warrant.

The same FAQ says presidents in recent times have rarely announced why they granted or denied a request. If the President does not issue a public statement, the Department does not supply a reason.

What a denial makes public

The FAQ says the office is obliged to release existing lists of the names of people the President has denied, when someone requests those records under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552. It cites a court ruling for that duty.

In Lardner v. United States Department of Justice, No. 09-5337 (D.C. Cir. Oct. 28, 2010), the court affirmed a judgment that the Office of the Pardon Attorney had to release a list of names, prepared by the White House, of people whose pardon or commutation applications the President had denied. It is an unpublished judgment that does not set binding precedent. Read the decision (PDF). The court's copy is on the D.C. Circuit site. The district court case is Lardner v. Department of Justice, 638 F. Supp. 2d 14 (D.D.C. 2009), No. 1:08-cv-01398.

The request in that case was for the names. It was not a request for what the applications said. The court said a different case, Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Department of Justice, 365 F.3d 1108 (D.C. Cir. 2004), did not control, because that request had sought individual pardon applications, including non-public personal information about the applicants and their lives before and after their convictions.

The Department had argued that two privacy exemptions covered the name list. Exemption 6 covers personnel, medical, and similar files when disclosure would be a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6)). Exemption 7(C) covers records compiled for law enforcement purposes when production could reasonably be expected to be an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)(C)). The court of appeals affirmed the district court's reasons for rejecting those arguments as to the name list. It also held that the White House list is not a law enforcement record under Exemption 7(C). The list tells the Pardon Attorney what the President decided. It is separate from the investigative file on an applicant, and the Department conceded in the district court that the list exists apart from that file.

The judgment does not order the Department to publish a reason for a denial. The FAQ says deliberative communications about agency and presidential decision-making are not available under the case law on the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act.

What stays in the clemency file

A separate rule covers the working file. 28 C.F.R. § 1.5 says petitions, reports, memoranda, and communications submitted or furnished while a petition is under consideration generally shall be available only to the officials concerned with that petition. They may be made available for inspection, in whole or in part, when in the Attorney General's judgment disclosure is required by law or the ends of justice.

That rule advises Department staff. It creates no right to clemency, and it does not limit the President (28 C.F.R. § 1.11).

The public case search shows a status for cases opened since 1989: pending, granted, denied, or administratively closed. The office says it cannot share the details of a specific case's review. How to check clemency status explains those labels. Notice to a victim, when the Attorney General decides contact is warranted, is a different step. When a petition can trigger victim notice covers that rule.

What this means for you

If the President grants a pardon or a commutation, expect the name, district, offense, and year of sentencing to be public. If the President denies the request, the Department tells the person and closes the case (28 C.F.R. § 1.8). The name can appear on a denial list that the office releases when asked. The written petition and the Department's recommendation are not the grant table.

A pardon and a commutation are compared on pardon versus commutation.

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