Tag: Pres. Trump

The Final Pardons

The last day of the Trump debacle that some call a presidency……Donald the Orange has made his list of pardons public.

Pardon day is here. The White House was expected to announce a slew of pardons and commutations on Tuesday, President Trump’s last full day in office, but instead the list came out early Wednesday, hours before his term ends at noon, CNN reports. The most notable name on the list of people being granted clemency in some form: Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist charged with fundraising fraud. Sources say there was much debate at the White House over whether to include the controversial pick, even until the last minute. Not on the list: Trump himself, members of his family, or Rudy Giuliani, NBC News reports; there had been speculation he might issue preemptive pardons in those cases. There are a total of 143 names on the list, the Washington Post reports. Among them:

  • Rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, who are jailed on weapons charges
  • Elliott Broidy, a former top fundraiser for the Trump campaign who pleaded guilty in a corruption and bribery case
  • Conservative political operative Paul Erickson, the ex-boyfiend of alleged Russian spy Maria Butina, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges
  • North Carolina political donor Robin Hayes, who was convicted of trying to bribe officials
  • Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, convicted of racketeering, extortion, corruption, and other charges
  • Professional sports gambler William Walters, found guilty of insider trading
  • Israeli air force officer Aviem Sella, whom the US accused of spying
  • Casey Urlacher, brother of former NFL star Brian Urlacher, accused of helping to run an illegal offshore gambling ring

Prior to this group, Trump had only granted clemency to 95 people; the only one-term president to have a lower number is George HW Bush.

Not a person listed deserves a presidential pardon.

If they accept then they admit they committed the crimes they are accused of doing.

I guess those pardoned kissed enough ass for Trump to take notice….and wrote a big enough check.

These pardons are not about justice but rather about money.

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A “Heroes Garden”?

Awhile back the president ordered the ripping up of the White House’s Rose Garden….a feature that has been a stable in DC a place for announcements, pressers and just a great source of inspiration for most of those roses were planted by numerous presidents….

Melania Trump’s redesign of the White House Rose Garden is making headlines—and not all for the better, Vox reports. The First Lady has torn out crabapple trees and vibrant tulips dating back to the Kennedy era for a more sedate color palette of white and pastel roses. She also introduced paved walkways along with under-the-radar fixes like better drainage, disability access, and media-friendly technical improvements, per the AP. But the less colorful design and vanquished trees inspired a wave of outrage on Twitter, where the Independent reports that users accused Trump of “removing Jackie O’s rose garden” and constructing “a cemetery.”

It is now gone and on Trump’s last full day as president he announced that it would now be the “Heroes Garden”…..

President Trump issued one of his final executive orders that calls for the establishment of a “National Garden of American Heroes,” what Business Insider describes as a collection of “statues of an eclectic range of candidates” that Trump first mentioned last summer. (By “eclectic,” think Christopher Columbus set in a landscape alongside Whitney Houston, Kobe Bryant, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.) But as people have started to analyze the list of nearly 250 luminaries on Trump’s list—which includes athletes, authors, TV and film stars, and historical figures, among others—the garden that’s meant to “reflect the awesome splendor of our country’s timeless exceptionalism” is receiving some criticism for its makeup. Specifically, Axios ran the stats and found that male candidates outnumber the women at a nearly 4-to-1 rate.

Most notably missing: female athletes, Mike Freeman notes for USA Today. Not a single one, though Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, and Babe Ruth all get a nod, as well as 10 other male athletes and coaches. “An argument could be made that Serena Williams is the greatest athlete this country’s ever produced,” Freeman writes, also scratching his head over why Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Simone Biles, Megan Rapinoe, and others weren’t possibilities. Historian Michael Beschloss thinks the entire garden is a terrible idea, telling Axios: “No president of the United States or federal government has any business dictating [to] us citizens who our historical heroes should be.” Where the statue garden would be located hasn’t yet been mentioned, but NPR notes it may all be a moot point anyway, as it doesn’t see the garden ever coming to fruition. Read the full list of candidates here.

I still do not know why the roses had to go.

Time to replant and continue a tradition…..a tribute to real ‘heroes’ is a good idea but not at the cost of presidential roses.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

More Pardons?

Today is Donald Trump’s last day as president of the United States. (Celebrate when he is gone)

Trump has been on pardoning frenzy for the last couple of months as the leader of the Free World and his last in office may be NO different.

Word has come out that he plans many for his last day.

President Trump’s pardoning spree will continue until pretty near the bitter end, sources say. Three people familiar with the matter tell CNN that the POTUS will issue somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 pardons and commutations on Tuesday, his last full day in office. He has until noon on Wednesday, Inauguration Day, to grant clemency. Aides don’t currently expect that list to include himself, members of his family, or his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, though they warn that could change; all of the above had been speculated as possibilities. Rather, CNN says the list will include “white collar criminals, high-profile rappers and others.” Sources tell the Washington Post the names are largely expected to be “uncontroversial.” Trump granted clemency to 49 people in the week before Christmas; the total number of his presidency so far is 94, mostly friends and allies.

Not many specific names are being reported, other than Dr. Salomon Melgen, a prominent eye doctor from Palm Beach, Florida, who is jailed on health care fraud convictions. He is seen as “wealthy and influential” in South Florida, CNN says, and sources say that’s a common theme in the list: “Everything is a transaction. He likes pardons because it is unilateral. And he likes doing favors for people he thinks will owe him,” one says. Julian Assange is not expected to be on the list, and it’s not clear whether Steve Bannon will be. Trump met with daughter Ivanka, Jared Kushner, and other aides at the White House Sunday to discuss the list, which is seen as fluid and could change before it’s finalized. As for why he isn’t likely to pardon himself, a source tells Reuters there’s a concern that could make him look guilty regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Once again he will pardon people that can be of benefit to him….not those people that necessarily deserve a pardon.

Will any of the 06 January crowd be included?

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“lego ergo scribo”

Second Time A Charm?

Yep it is impeachment time again.

A good place to start…..

The federal criminal code (18 USC 373) makes it a crime to solicit, command, induce or “endeavor to persuade” another person to commit a felony that includes the threat or use of physical force. Simply put, it is a crime to persuade another person, or a mob of several thousand, to commit a violent felony.

The federal criminal code makes it a crime for “two or more persons … to oppose by force the authority [of the United States] or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States” (18 USC 2384). That felony, including the use of force, clearly was committed by the mob after being encouraged by the president.

Now act!

After the breaching of the Capitol by protesters the Congress is taking it very seriously and is blaming the president for the instigation of violence and destruction.

For the second time in a couple of years there is a vote in the Congress to impeach the president of the United States….

There were 130 years between the first and second presidential impeachments in American history—and 13 months between the third and fourth. A majority of House members on Wednesday voted to support a a single article of impeachment charging President Trump with “incitement of insurrection,” making Trump the first president to be impeached twice, the AP reports. Roll Call points out the second impeachment differed from the first in that it had bipartisan support, with 10 Republicans, including No. 3 House Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, joining House Democrats. In Trump’s first impeachment, three Democrats broke with their party, but Democrats were unified this time. The final vote Wednesday was 232 to 197.

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—the first speaker to oversee two impeachment efforts—said in a floor speech before the vote that Trump is a “clear and present danger to the nation we all love.” “We know we experienced the insurrection that violated the sanctity of the people’s Capitol,” Pelosi said, per the Hill. “And we know that the president of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country.” House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy argued that while Trump should “accept responsibility” for his role in the violence, a “vote to impeach would further divide this nation,” Politico reports. The next step will be a trial in the Senate, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he won’t bring senators back early for a trial before Trump’s term ends next week.

Why will McConnell NOT convene the SEnate for a vote?

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office told Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) staff on Wednesday that the GOP will not agree to reconvene the Senate before Jan. 19 to allow an impeachment trial while President Trump is still in office.

A senior Senate Republican aide confirmed that McConnell’s office reached out to Schumer’s office to relay the message that Republicans will not agree to a Friday session to enable House Democrats to present an article of impeachment to the Senate while Trump is in office.

McConnell said in a memo circulated to colleagues last week that the Senate will not be able to handle business on the floor until senators are scheduled to return to Washington on Jan. 19 unless all 100 senators agree to reconvene sooner.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/534053-mcconnell-wont-agree-to-reconvene-senate-early-for-impeachment-trial

Only mere days left int the imperial presidency and the Senate will not vote…..

Keep that in mind when they once again ask your support.

Tell them to go f*ck themselves.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Pardon Me? (Again)

After the breach of the Capitol and all the calls for retribution on Trump and his supporters there is concerns he might try an end run before he leaves office.

There has been a bit of a will he or won’t he about Trump attempting to pardon himself…..https://lobotero.com/2020/12/09/pardon-will-he-wont-he/

News last week came the tale again…..

President Donald Trump has prepared a sweeping list of individuals he’s hoping to pardon in the final days of his administration that includes senior White House officials, family members, prominent rappers — and possibly himself, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump is hoping to announce the pardons on Jan. 19 — his final full day in office — and his ideas are currently being vetted by senior advisers and the White House counsel’s office, the people said.

The biggest question facing his legal team may be whether the president has the authority to pardon himself, as he has discussed in recent weeks with top aides, according to the people familiar with his conversations. Trump has previously claimed the power, though it’s a matter of legal dispute and has never before been attempted by a president.

A self-pardon could also prove a major political liability and hamstring another presidential bid, with opponents sure to suggest the self-pardon amounted to an admission that he thought he might be prosecuted for breaking the law.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/trump-prepares-pardon-list-for-aides-and-kin-and-maybe-himself

The big question is…..can a president self pardon?

President Donald Trump has declared that he has the “absolute right” to issue a pardon to himself. Yet the law is much murkier than his confidence suggests.

No president has attempted to pardon himself while in office, so if Trump tries to do so in the next six weeks, he will be venturing into legally untested territory without clear guidance from the Constitution or from judges. Legal experts are divided on an inherently ambiguous question that was left vague by the Founding Fathers and has never had to be definitively resolved in court.

https://apnews.com/article/can-donald-trump-pardon-himself-3fcbe6a0e961d8e90e9fc0a48e2ff126

After the riot on 06Jan21 the president is considering an all-purpose pardon……

As The New York Times reports, Trump has been talking to his staffers about whether or not he can perform autopardonica. Trump’s ability to get masturbatory with his pardon pen remains a subject of open debate, and obvious distaste. Apparently, Trump’s pardon lust was previously at the “idle musings” level, but in recent days he’s been chatting up the idea. That’s especially the case as Trump has become convinced that “his perceived enemies will use the levers of law enforcement to target him after he leaves office.”

https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1/7/2006893/-After-inciting-an-insurrection-Trump-is-seriously-considering-handing-himself-an-all-purpose-pardon

This will be yet another attempt by Trump to circumvent the Constitution and to be honest he has been pretty damn successful in the past.

Will he this time?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–12Jan21

The power company has just warned me that we will be without power for several hours while they repair storm damage……so my closing thought will be early today.

The big news is that Twitter has permanently banned Donald J. Trump from the platform…..

President Trump’s favorite form of communication is now off limits to him. Twitter banned him on Friday, citing “risk of further incitement of violence,” reports the AP. The move is permanent, reports USA Today, and Trump’s feed is now inaccessible. The president had 88 million followers. “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them—specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter—we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the company said in a statement.

The move comes after Twitter locked Trump out of his account for 12 hours earlier this week when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol. That ban came after Trump posted a video calling them “very special people” and saying he loved them. Trump had been able to tweet since then, but Twitter said recent ones in which he called his supporters “great American patriots” and said he would not attend Joe Biden’s inauguration served to ramp up tensions, reports the Washington Post. The latter tweets violated Twitter’s “Glorification of Violence Policy,” said the company.

And the hits just keep coming…..

Snapchat became the latest social media company to suspend President Donald Trump, joining Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, which have also locked the president’s accounts.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-has-now-been-suspended-four-six-most-popular-social-media-platforms-1559830

Why now?

After all the social media stuff from Trump over the last 4 years….what made them act now?

Maybe they are afraid the the Biden Admin will crack down on them…..so they are acting in self-preservation not in some social conscience.

All you deluded supporters do not fret…..Trump wants to build his own new platform….

President Trump suggested Friday night that he may seek to build his own online platform after Twitter permanently suspended his account less than two weeks before the end of his presidency.

Trump, tweeting from the @POTUS account after Twitter banned @realDonaldTrump, wrote that he and his team are looking at the possibility of “building out our own platform in the near future.”

“As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me — and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me,” he wrote.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/533455-trump-suggests-building-own-platform-after-twitter-ban

Not only is Trump closing his composure as well as the 2020 election…..this “very smart person” is losing his degree…..

In 1988, Donald Trump spoke at Lehigh University’s commencement ceremony, where the school conferred on him an honorary degree. Now, more than three decades and multiple petitions later, that distinction for Trump is no more: The university’s board of trustees has rescinded and revoked the degree as a result of the violent riot this week on Capitol Hill that the president incited. Per the Brown and White student newspaper, the decision was reached Thursday during a special session of the executive committee, then “fully affirmed” on Friday. NPR notes that multiple petitions have circulated over the past few years to make this happen, including one from three years ago that amassed nearly 80,000 votes.

Trump “does not reflect Lehigh University’s values. Therefore, he does not deserve to bear the distinction of an honorary degree from Lehigh,” that petition read, spelling out point by point the principles detailed in an official university document on diversity and inclusion. In a Thursday statement, Lehigh President John D. Simon issued a statement calling what happened in DC Wednesday a “violent assault,” though he didn’t mention Trump. LehighValleyLive.com notes the revocation comes as the squeeze is felt from various corners for Trump to resign or be otherwise legally removed from office in his final days in the White House.

Let the good times roll!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–11Jan21

Remember in the days of yore (2020) when Donald the Orange use to chest thump along with the GOP about all the jobs he, Trump, had created?

Well looks like that has come to a screeching halt….

The relentless virus finally overtook new hiring. Employers shed 140,000 jobs in the US in December, reversing a trend of seven months of job growth, reports the Wall Street Journal. The unemployment rate stayed at 6.7%, which the AP notes is the first time it has not declined since April. Since employers shed 22 million jobs in the spring because of the pandemic, they had been rehiring workers at a steady clip prior to December. Despite the gloomy numbers, analysts saw reason for hope, at least for later in the year.

“It’s reasonably hopeful this will be a one-off rough patch and we’ll recover from there,” Barclays economist Pooja Sriram tells the Journal. The rollout of vaccines and expectations of more COVID relief in the Democratic-controlled Congress were among the factors he and other analysts cited. Eventual warmer weather should help, too. Still, the figure of 140,000 lost jobs was worse than the 50,000 expected by analysts, notes CNBC.

The pandemic surging is wrecking havoc on us mere mortals…..especially with jobs….

We can only hope that there are better days ahead….I really do not believe that a new president will make much difference…the real key is whether Daddy Warbucks wants to part with some of their profit.

May we all see better days.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Phone Call For History

By now the whole country knows about the infamous phone call that Trump made to the SecState of Georgia (the state not the country) about the voting in the state.

In case you missed the news I have a short breakdown for my reader.

“So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes.” That’s what President Trump said to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday in an “extraordinary” hour-long phone call, the Washington Post’s Amy Gardner reports. The Post has a recording of the call, during which the president alternates from flattery to threats of criminal liability in an attempt to get Raffensperger to pursue unfounded claims of voter fraud in Georgia, which Trump lost to President-elect Joe Biden by 11,779 votes. “Well, Mr. President, the challenge you have is the data you have is wrong,” an “exasperated” Raffensperger told Trump, per the Atlanta Journal Constitution, pushing back on “sham theories” that included ballot stuffing, ballot shredding, and tampering with voting machines. “There’s no way I lost Georgia,” Trump said, claiming to have won the state by “hundreds of thousands of votes.”

At one point, the president reminded Raffensperger, “you’re a Republican.” Trump also mentioned Tuesday’s Senate runoff in Georgia: “Because of what you’ve done to the president, a lot of people aren’t going out to vote, and a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative.” Fallout from the call spilled onto Twitter on Sunday with Trump tweeting that Raffensperger is “unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under table’ scam, ballot destruction, out of state ‘voters,’ dead voters, and more. He has no clue!” Raffensperger’s tweeted response: “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out.” Legal experts tell the Post that the call put Trump in “legally questionable territory.” From a moral standpoint, law professor Edward B. Foley tells the paper, the call was “inappropriate and contemptible.”

This incident sounds a lot like the violation of our Constitution…..but that is just my thought.

There are a few thoughts about the the infamous phone call…..

When the Washington Post published its scoop on President Trump’s leaked phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state, the newspaper noted the POTUS may have been skating on thin ice, legally speaking, with his attempts to get Brad Raffensperger on board with overturning Joe Biden’s win in the state. A law professor said that while it could be hard to prove the president knew he was pushing behavior that’s actually illegal, it’s still clear that Trump “was already tripping the emergency meter. So we were at 12 on a scale of 1 to 10, and now we’re at 15.” In the wake of the Post‘s piece, there are a number of similar takes coming out. Politico, for example, talks to legal experts and lawmakers who say Trump’s requests “could violate federal and state statutes aimed at guarding against the solicitation of election fraud.” More on that and other news related to the call:

  • Specifically, those experts say, the problematic parts of the call are Trump’s urging that Raffensperger “find” exactly the right number of votes to put him ahead of Biden in the state, plus his implication that Raffensperger and his aides might be criminally liable themselves because they didn’t report so-called election interference. (There is no evidence for such interference.)
  • But the New York Times reports that while many of the lawyers it spoke to agreed Trump either broke the law or came close, actually prosecuting him would be challenging. One lawyer notes that Trump could point to the fact that he made no attempt to conceal what he was doing as evidence that he did not intend to break any laws, or did not realize there was a federal law that might have prohibited what he was doing.
  • Some Democrats are saying the call could be criminal. Congressional Democrats are suggesting they will be probing any legal implications, with Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin specifically calling for an investigation, the Hill reports.
  • Even Republicans are speaking out, the AP reports, noting they are concerned Trump’s effort to “sow doubt” on the election is “undermining Americans’ faith in democracy.” More on that, including who is saying what, here.
  • The leak came ahead of a big week politically: Georgia’s runoff, which will determine which party controls the Senate, is Tuesday, and Congress will certify the presidential election results Wednesday. At least a dozen incoming and current GOP senators, plus more than 100 GOP representatives, plan to challenge the certification.
  • As for the runoff, Trump mentioned it in the call, suggesting Raffensperger’s failure to go along with his plan could result in the Republicans, Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, losing. Trump is holding a rally in Georgia on Monday, and he told Raffensperger he would be complaining about the Georgia presidential election results at the event. On Sunday, he retweeted a call for Perdue and Loeffler to back the “do not certify” and “stop the steal” movement. CNN has a piece about how Trump’s Georgia antics are making things difficult for the senators as they fight to keep their seats.

Oh goody!  Just what we need in this time of extreme division in the country.

Personally, I think this person, Trump, should be prosecuted for violation of the US Constitution…..of course he will not…..but to me that is a violation of the Constitution as well.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–29Dec20

AS this year of 2020 comes to end we find that one president will be shown the door and a new one will enter that same door and do what is that presidents do…..make the rich richer……

But as the Trump years come to an end I think back to the emoluments clause in the Constitution…..

The Constitutional Provisions……The Constitution mentions emoluments in three provisions, each sometimes referred to as the “Emoluments Clause”:

The Foreign Emoluments Clause(art. I, § 9, cl. 8):“[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

The Domestic Emoluments Clause(a.k.a.the Presidential Emoluments Clause) (art. II, § 1, cl.7): “The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.”

The Ineligibility Clause(art. I, § 6, cl. 2): “No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time;and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.”

I bring this up because of something I read about donors and Pres. Trump…..

President Donald Trump’s donors — the vast majority of whom are working-class supporters and retirees contributing just a few dollars a month — put $10.5 million into the erstwhile billionaire’s own personal businesses over the course of his presidency, a HuffPost analysis found.

Some $8.5 million came from the Trump campaign and related entities that Trump controls directly. Another $2 million came from other Republican candidates and committees.

Through a trust that he controls, Trump owns the hotels, golf courses and buildings that received the money, with every penny of profit flowing to him personally.

Since losing reelection to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump has continued his fundraising, with the vast majority of the money going into a virtual slush fund that Trump can legally use for just about any purpose — from McDonald’s Quarter Pounders to jet fuel for his airplane to hush money payments to women.

“If you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If you’re Donald Trump, everything looks like a chance to make money,” said Jordan Libowitz with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group that has filed multiple lawsuits to obtain details of government spending at Trump’s businesses.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-self-dealing-campaign-slush-fund-donations_n_5fe7b503c5b6acb534585c51

So you decide….a violation or not.

I read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

They Are F*cking Guilty!

Our dear Orange Dude has pardon everyone who has dirt on his worthless ass…..and there are a few things that I want to pass on….

The people pardoned are criminals.

If they accept the pardon then they are admitting that they are truly criminals and guilty of the charges levelled on them.

But let’s learn about pardons for those unsure what they are and do….

The U.S. Constitution, in Article II, Section 2, grants the president the power of executive clemency. Executive clemency includes the power to pardon, in which the president overturns a federal conviction and restores “an individual to the state of innocence that existed before the conviction.”[3] Executive clemency also includes the power of commutation, which allows a president to shorten or reduce a federal prison sentence.

Other powers of executive clemency include postponing a sentence or punishment (a reprieve) and remitting fines.[4]

The Constitution imposes two major limits on the power of executive clemency. The first is that clemency is limited to federal offenses. The president cannot pardon individuals for civil or state offenses. The second is that the president may not use this power to intervene in impeachment proceedings.

A special office in the Department of Justice is dedicated to assisting the president in matters related to executive clemency. It is called the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Requests for pardons, commutations, and remissions begin with the Office of the Pardon Attorney.

Next the reasons for presidential pardons according to scholar P.S. Ruckman…..

First category of explanations are ‘legal’ or ‘technical’ in nature. Generally such explanations relate to (1) the potential, probable or certain innocence of the petitioner (2) mitigating factors or (3) concern for proportionate punishment. [W.H.] Humbert’s [1941] study, for example, found the following factors cited in clemency statements: (1) irregularities at trial, insufficient evidence, conflicting testimony, mistaken identity, grave doubt as to the justice of convictions, disclosure of new evidence, confessions of true offenders (2) absence of premeditation, the heat of passion or extreme provocation, insanity, intoxication (3) technical guilt, pettiness of the crime, excessive punishment, sufficient punishment, and a desire to equalize punishment for all participants in the crime.

A second category of formal, public clemency explanations concerns humanitarian compassion or mercy. Clemency rationales in this category are criticized more frequently, but the appeals to sympathy and emotion in this category of explanations may serve as a powerful shield to the executive. Many pardons, for example, have been issued to federal prisoners near death (Adler 1989; Humbert 1941). […] In some instances, pardons have been issued to those whose health threatened that of other inmates (Humbert 1941). A well-argued statement emphasizing the extreme age, ignorance, or questionable degree of sanity in the recipient of clemency may sway sympathy as well as any ‘death bed’ scenario.

A third and final category of formal, public clemency explanations concerns judgments on reform, or rehabilitation. Explanations in this category may well provide the greatest potential for controversy. As Moore (1993) notes, presidents run certain risks when they attempt to assess the reality and degree of a prisoner’s `transformation.’ […] In the past, presidents have been swayed by the religious conversion of prisoners, charity work (Clark 1984), and promises “never to violate the law again” (Humbert 1941, 124).

Next question is why do we have this situation….it begins with the Framers…..

The concept of governmental relief from the punishment that would otherwise apply to a criminal act has deep historical roots, with some scholars tracing it as far back as ancient Greece and Rome. An English form of pardon power vested in the king, the ‘prerogative of mercy,’ first appeared during the reign of King Ine of Wessex (688-725 A.D.). Over time, perceived abuses ‘such as royal sales of pardons or use of pardons as bribery to join the military’ prompted Parliament to impose limitations on the pardon power. The king’s power to pardon nevertheless endured through the American colonial period and applied in the colonies themselves through delegation to colonial authorities.

Following the American Revolution, the English legal tradition of a pardon power held by the executive directly influenced the pardon provision included in the U.S. Constitution. At the Constitutional Convention, the two major plans offered—the Virginia and New Jersey plans—did not address pardons. However, in a ‘sketch’ of suggested amendments to the Virginia plan, Alexander Hamilton included a pardon power vested in an ‘Executive authority of the United States’ that extended to ‘all offences except Treason,’ with a pardon for treason requiring Senate approval. It appears that the rationale for the treason limitation was, at least in part, that the head of the executive branch should not be able to absolve himself and possible conspirators of a crime threatening ‘the immediate being of the society.’ Hamilton’s proposal was included in a subsequent draft of the Constitution, though the requirement of Senate approval for a pardon of treason was replaced with an exception for impeachment, apparently with the thought that exempting impeachment was sufficient to protect against abuse.

Now you know the why and how…..

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”