The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that former Gov

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that former Gov. George Ryan had the power to commute the sentences of everyone on the state's death row before he left office last year. The Republican governor commuted the sentences of 167 inmates and pardoned 4 others, acting 3 years after he temporarily halted all executions in Illinois. The state attorney general challenged Ryan's constitutional authority in 32 of the cases, arguing some of the inmates hadn't sought clemency as required by state law and others didn't have death sentences at the time because their cases were being appealed. The Supreme Court justices said that a governor's pardon power is essentially unreviewable. No dissents were filed, though the justices added that they felt pardons and commutations should be handled individually, rather than in the mass fashion Ryan used when he cleared death row.