Kobil Publishes Book Chapter on Clemency

January 24, 2007

Professor of Law Daniel T. Kobil recently contributed a book chapter entitled “Should Mercy Have a Place in Clemency Decisions?” for inclusion in Forgiveness, Mercy, and Clemency(Stanford University Press, 2007).Forgiveness, Mercy, and Clemency , is a collection of essays that were prepared for a conference of legal, philosophical, and literary scholars that was organized by Professors Austin Sarat and Nasser Hussain and held at Amherst College in 2005. The book examines the relationship between forgiveness, mercy, and clemency and considers what role these concepts should play in our society, as well as our systems of justice. Kobil’s chapter contributes to this discussion by arguing that mercy is a legitimate reason for exercising the clemency authority because it provides unique instrumental and expressive benefits that cannot otherwise be achieved.

Kobil researches and publishes extensively on the subject of clemency, particularly as it relates to the death penalty. Some of his articles on the subject, which have been cited by various courts including the United States Supreme Court, are The Quality of Mercy Strained: Wresting the Pardoning Power from the King, 69 University of Texas Law Review 569 (1991), and Due Process in Death Penalty Commutations: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Clemency, 27 University of Richmond Law Review 201 (1993). Another book chapter that he authored, “The Evolving Role of Clemency in Capital Cases,” appears in a death penalty anthology, America’s Experiment With Capital Punishment (Carolina Academic Press, 2003).

In 2003, Kobil was invited to give testimony before the American Bar Association's Justice Kennedy Commission on how the clemency power can be revived. He also testified on the subject in 2001 before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution. Kobil testified as an expert witness before the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency on behalf of Randy Greenawalt. He is currently assisting in the representation of death-sentenced individuals in Tennessee, and he recently assisted in the U.S. Supreme Court appeal of Gregory Thompson. See, Bell v. Thompson, 125 S.Ct. 2885 (2005). Kobil’s many pro bono activities on behalf of death-sentenced individuals includes serving as counsel of record for the American Civil Liberties Union as amicus curiae in Ohio Adult Parole Authority v. Woodard, 523 U.S. 272 (1998), a case decided by the United States Supreme Court concerning clemency and Fourteenth Amendment guarantees of due process.