Let us examine the issue of presidential pardons, which have risen in the public’s consciousness lately.
Donald J. Trump is issuing pardons to convicted felons, some of whom have committed violent crimes against law enforcement officers. He also is acting totally within his powers as president, as prescribed in the U.S. Constitution.
The founders granted the president virtually unlimited power to pardon anyone of a crime. Trump has been signing pardon documents left and right lately. The most recent pardon of some controversy involves a reality TV couple convicted of tax evasion and fraud against the U.S. government. The husband was sentenced to 12 years in the slammer; the wife got seven years. Trump set them free today.
What I want to examine briefly is the ramification of pardons such as this one, which undermines a jury verdict reached in a fair trial. Trump said the couple — convicted felons, mind you — are “fine people” and they deserve the chance to restart their lives.
No they don’t. They were convicted in a court of law.
I don’t want to expend a lot of emotional capital on this pardon. I do want to make what I think is a critical point. A pardon expunges the record. It removes conviction from a criminal’s past … officially. It does not wipe out the memories of those who were damaged by whatever crime is committed. Nor does it expunge from the memories of those of us who watch these matters with a degree of interest.
I became aware of presidential pardons in September 1974 when President Ford issued a full and complee pardon to his predecessor, Richard Nixon. Nixon had resigned the presidency but had not been convicted of any crime. He was about to be impeached by the House and would be assuredly convicted in a Senate trial for crimes related to the Watergate scandal. Ford’s decision, though, looked at the larger issue of the impact a continued pursuit of Nixon would have on the nation.
President Ford paid a political price for the pardon, losing his bid for election in 1976, largely it is believed because voters thought at the time he acted prematurely. The pardon, though, did not remove the stigma of Nixon’s resignation. Nor did it wipe away the public perception of the disgraced former president as someone who sought to cover up the wrongdoing done in his name.
If only the current president could understand what he’s doing to this enormous power he has at his disposal. He is making himself, his office and our government a laughingstock.