I hope Leonard Peltier is on that short list as well. I am worried though that while Obama might be willing to make one ‘controversial’ commutation or pardon he won’t be willing to make more than that. His final act (or lack there of) of commutation/pardon will effect my views of his Presidential legacy and courage.
iirc clinton was threatened by senior fbi officials with something just short of an open revolt by federal agents if he pardoned peltier at the end of his second term. otoh, none of the u.s. attorneys in the case expressed anything other than opposition at that time. i can’t be optimistic about the chances though.
Given that the FBI is currently acting as a blatantly partisan agency on behalf of the GOP, that may be less of a concern this time…
I’d just pardon everybody. Fuck it.
(There’s a damn good reason not to elect me)
I think he has to make pardons individually. He can’t make a blanket pardon, which explains why he’s taking so long with commuting sentences for non-violent drug offenders.
I think that’s more of a norm than a law, and I’m pretty sure that following norms is a thing of the past.
No, I heard (I think on NPR when this topic came up) that he just can’t give a blanket pardon or commutations across a whole class of people/crimes, which is why it’s taken him so long to pardon who he has.
I’m trying to find where I heard that, but am having no luck… I’ll post it if I find it…
The section in the constitution about the power is exceptionally short and has no real details. I don’t think he can pardon class of people or crimes, but I also don’t see how anyone could make a legal argument that the president couldn’t sign a pardon for two named people at once, or three, or four, etc.
I think the white house probably has access to a sufficient sized print shop to print every name in every database they have onto a couple hundred thousand sheets of paper and have him sign the bottom of it.
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