Quincy Dennis v. J.A. Terris

SUTTON, Circuit Judge.

*957 The President has the "Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States." U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 1. But does the President's exercise of that authority invariably create a new executive judgment that fully replaces the judicial judgment?

Quincy Dennis committed a string of drug offenses, leading to a mandatory life sentence in 1997. In 2017, President Obama commuted his sentence to 30 years. Dennis filed this § 2241 habeas petition, arguing that he should have faced only a 20-year mandatory sentence. The district court held that it had…