(WASHINGTON POST) Max Ehrenfreund — President Obama is preparing to reduce sentences for dozens of federal inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes, using his constitutional authority as president to grant clemency to criminals, according to a report in The New York Times Friday.

Gridlock in Congress has led Obama to rely on executive authority to pursue his agenda in other areas as well, notably health care and education. Commutations for any large number of inmates would be another novel use of executive power into a different area of policy, criminal justice.

Source: Obama almost never commutes the sentences of inmates, but that could change – The Washington Post