{"id":2763,"date":"2020-02-19T09:15:49","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T14:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2763"},"modified":"2020-02-19T09:15:54","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T14:15:54","slug":"reflection-in-the-mirror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/19\/reflection-in-the-mirror\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection in the Mirror"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201c\u2026He<\/em> (the President) shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Article 2, Section 2, Constitution of the United States<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sovereign<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When President Trump says he has \u201cthe power of Article II,\u201d that lets him do almost anything, it sounds like he is claiming to be a king.  But there is one particular area where he is right.  The United States Constitution grants the President the ultimate sovereign power of reprieve and pardon.  He can, without check or balance from any other branch of the government, pardon anyone from a Federal crime, or forgive a penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cpardon power\u201d was added into the Constitution by the Founding Fathers because they felt there needed to be a way to address inevitable injustices that might occur in the Court system.  They also knew there might be times when, for the good of the nation, it would be necessary to forgive offenses.  And there was, of course, the ultimate check of Congressional impeachment and removal, should a President take the pardon power too far<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forgive and Move On<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

George Washington used the pardon first to forgive the farmers of Western Pennsylvania for the Whiskey Rebellion.  The Federal government issued a tax on whiskey production, one of the main sources of income for the frontier settlers.  The farmers rebelled, refused to pay the tax and organized an armed insurrection.   President Washington led an army west to put down the rebellion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rebels dissolved.  There was no battle, but twenty farmers were eventually arrested.  With the rebellion put down, and the taxation power of the Federal government asserted, there was no need for further punishment.  Washington pardoned the remaining offenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Adams pardoned Revolutionary War deserters. Andrew Johnson pardoned Confederate veterans of the Civil War.  Jimmy Carter pardoned draft dodgers and deserters from Vietnam.  Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon.  The pardon power was used to resolve national issues so the nation could move forward.  To quote President Ford after Watergate, it allowed the nation to move on, its \u201c\u2026long national nightmare\u201d over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Injustice?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

But the pardon power has also been used to \u201cright\u201d individual injustices, some with much controversy.  President HW Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger, convicted of offenses in the Iran-Contra Affair.  Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, a convicted tax evader whose wife donated to the Clinton library.  And President Warren Harding pardoned socialist Eugene Debs, convicted of violating the \u201ctreasonous speech\u201d laws of World War I, and then invited him to drop by the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the President has unlimited powers of pardon and reprieve.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Trump<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday President Donald Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of eleven Americans.\u00a0\u00a0It seems like this President takes these actions almost on a whim.\u00a0\u00a0But Mr. Trump chooses at least some of his pardon recipients by looking in the mirror.\u00a0\u00a0If they have done something that Trump himself might have done; their chances of getting Presidential \u201cgrace\u201d seems to be heightened.\u00a0\u00a0Even more if he knows them from TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The List<\/h3>\n\n\n\n