Thursday, December 05, 2024

Pardon Me?

Pardons are meant to correct injustices; and it's not like they haven't been used before to prevent prosecutions.

The two most infamout pardons in modern memory are Ford pardoning Nixon, and Poppy pardoning the Iran-Contra figures literally on his way out the door.  Both prevented possible prosecutions, though Bush’s was a much more "self-dealing" pardon than Biden pere pardoning Biden frere.  Bush literally saved himself a world of hurt by ending the Iran-Contra investigation before it could get to him as a private citizen.

Please don't complain to me that Biden has used the pardon power corruptly, and not point to all of Trump's pardons.  No, two wrongs don't make a right, but don't start preaching until you know the text and the proper exegesis.

Blanket pardons aren't even all that unheard of.  Jimmy Carter issued one for all the draft dodgers who fled to Canada to evade the Vietnam War.  By that time nobody much resented their flight; disgust with the War was at an all-time high.  Still, Carter officially removed the cloud over their futures. The nation just wanted to put that all behind us. Sometimes pardons serve that purpose.

Pre-emptively ending Trump’s promised retribution certainly sounds like a good idea. He’s not going to appoint another Barr as AG, so inevitably he’ll get his way with DOJ, for as far as he can. (I still think he’ll be left with Jeffrey Clarke caliber clowns trying to prosecute criminal cases, but even bootless criminal prosecutions can raise all kinds of hell.) The country may be glad only in the absence of such legal farce and danger (even farce has its malign force in the law).

That won’t stop a blanket pardon from being a public good. Biden should have already had the Office of Pardon Attorney working on it.

No, seriously.
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