Clemenency for members of FALN (1999)

• The event: In 1999, President Bill Clinton offered conditional clemency to 12 members of the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), a Puerto Rican nationalist group. The FALN was responsible for numerous bombings in the U.S. in the 1970s and 1980s.
• The controversy: The clemency offer was highly controversial and condemned by a Senate resolution with a 95–2 vote. Critics charged that Clinton's motivation was to gain support from New York's Puerto Rican voters for Hillary Clinton's upcoming Senate bid.
• Key facts:
  • Those who accepted the offer had to renounce violence.
  • None of the 12 were convicted of violent crimes, but rather of charges like seditious conspiracy and weapons violations.
  • Some law enforcement officials and politicians heavily criticized the decision. 

Pardon of Susan Rosenberg (2001)

• The event: On his final day in office in 2001, Bill Clinton granted clemency to Susan Rosenberg, a member of the radical leftist group Weather Underground. She had been convicted of weapons and explosives charges.
• The controversy: The pardon drew strong criticism, including from New York political and law enforcement officials.