FILE UNDER “HALF A LOAF IS BETTER THAN NONE”: California’s state constitution requires that the California Supreme Court review clemency requests by the Governor that involve twice-convicted felons. (“The Governor may not grant a pardon or commutation to a person twice convicted of a felony except on recommendation of the Supreme Court, 4 judges concurring.). You’d think in a state where it takes a lot to be arrested, tried, and convicted of a crime that’s a good thing.

But if you were Jerry Brown or Gavin Newsom, you’d think otherwise. Protecting criminals seems as important to them as protecting citizens and victims, so when the First Amendment Coalition filed requests to see the clemency requests, the former and current governor pretended each time, in the words of one pro bono lawyer on the case, that “rather than abide by the Court’s rulings against complete secrecy, the Governor/Attorney General repeated the same arguments, every time, as if the Supreme Court had never addressed the issue.”

Not anymore. Last week, the California Supreme Court, en banc, announced a rule change – rejecting the Governor’s automatic confidentiality stance – stating that the contents of records filed by the Governor will be evaluated for their confidentiality on a case-by-case basis:

“Regardless of whether the Governor properly may refuse requests for access to clemency files when they are in his possession, an issue upon which we express no views, we conclude that the documents that are forwarded to the court pursuant to Penal Code section 4851 and supply the basis for a recommendation decision should be available for public inspection. Accordingly, henceforth upon the receipt of a motion to unseal a clemency record before the court pursuant to article V, section 8 and Penal Code section 4851, the Clerk and Executive Officer shall return the record for resubmission in conformity with this order and the Rules of Court pertaining to filings under seal. (Cal. Rules of Court, rules 2.550(d), 8.45, 8.46.)” (Emphasis added).

So what this means is that while citizens — and even potential twice-convicted applicants for clemency — still have to file a motion to unseal the records, and transparency is not guaranteed, the California Supreme Court has pretty much laid down the marker that clemency requests from the Governor, by dint of being transmitted to the Supreme Court, are presumed to be public records. Given the monkey business that has surrounded presidential pardons and commutations for decades (Trump commuted the sentence of corrruptocrat Rod Blagojevich (D-IL.) and Clinton pardoned financial crook Marc Rich (Major Clinton donor) it’s good to know that California will allow reporters, citizens, and yes, even twice-convicted felons to see how that sausage was made.

When the Founding Fathers instilled the concept of separation of powers, they knew what they were doing.
**Update: fixes reference to Blogojevich commutation. Thanks, IP readers!