Internal emails reportedly show that US Justice Department officials were left trying to clarify and correct aspects of former President Joe Biden’s end-of-term clemency decisions after they were announced. The episode matters because it raises questions about whether some commutations received the usual legal and administrative scrutiny before taking effect.

According to Fox News, officials sought to establish what certain decisions covered and to fix errors in others. The article says the broader clemency process had already attracted criticism from former US pardon attorneys, a federal judge and other officials, though the provided text gives no figures or specific cases.