At The Hill Jonathan Turley puts some historical context behind my observation of the partisan political nature of the complaints about President Trump’s pardon of Roger Stone:
Thomas Jefferson pardoned Erick Bollman for violations of the Alien and Sedition Act in the hope that he would testify against rival Aaron Burr for treason. Andrew Jackson stopped the execution of George Wilson in favor of a prison sentence, despite the long record Wilson had as a train robber, after powerful friends intervened with Jackson. Wilson surprised everyone by opting to be hanged anyway. However, Wilson could not hold a candle to Ignazio Lupo, one of the most lethal mob hitmen who was needed back in New York during a mafia war. With the bootlegging business hanging in the balance, Warren Harding, who along with his attorney general, Harry Daugherty, was repeatedly accused of selling pardons, decided to pardon Lupo on the condition that he be a “law abiding†free citizen.
Franklin Roosevelt also pardoned political allies, including Conrad Mann, who was a close associate of Kansas City political boss Tom Pendergast. Pendergast made a fortune off illegal alcohol, gambling, and graft, and helped send Harry Truman into office. Truman also misused this power, including pardoning the extremely corrupt George Caldwell, who was a state official who skimmed massive amounts of money off government projects, like a building fund for Louisiana State University.
Richard Nixon was both giver and receiver of controversial pardons. He pardoned Jimmy Hoffa after the Teamsters Union leader had pledged to support his reelection bid. Nixon himself was later pardoned by Gerald Ford, an act many of us view as a mistake. To his credit, Ronald Reagan declined to pardon the Iran Contra affair figures, but his vice president, George Bush, did so after becoming president. Despite his own alleged involvement in that scandal, Bush still pardoned those other Iran Contra figures, such as Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger.
Bill Clinton committed some of the worst abuses of this power, including pardons for his brother Roger Clinton and his friend and business partner Susan McDougal. He also pardoned the fugitive financier Marc Rich, who evaded justice by fleeing abroad. Entirely unrepentant, Rich was a major Democratic donor, and Clinton had wiped away his convictions for fraud, tax evasion, racketeering, and illegal dealings with Iran.
I don’t care much for presidents’ power to pardon or commute sentences. It smacks of royalism to me.
But if you don’t like presidents having the power to grant pardons or commute sentence, the proper course of action is to amend the Constitution to remove that power or, at least, require that these pardons and commutations be ratified by the Senate. Don’t complain about Trump’s pardon of Roger Stone without complaining about Obama’s, Clinton’s, or Roosevelt’s pardons and commutations right along with it. Otherwise it’s just partisan bickering.
I don’t like the pardon power and as I said yesterday, it has been abused. But, as I also said yesterday, Trump takes it further than anyone else. Presidents have pardoned allies and donors, but in the case of Stone he had tampered with a witness in Trump’s investigation. So I think we can all complain about prior pardons but it is not partisan bickering to note that Trump has gone above and beyond.
Steve
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Clinton. Pardoning your brother and your business partner?
I support the pardon power for the reasons given by Hamilton in Federalist No. 74:
“Humanity and good policy conspire to dictate, that the benign prerogative of pardoning should be as little as possible fettered or embarrassed. The criminal code of every country partakes so much of necessary severity, that without an easy access to exceptions in favor of unfortunate guilt, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel.”
The legislative process does not lend itself to leniency, but alarm. The people who say they want fewer incarcerations, merely have particularly classes of people in mind and are a blood-thirty mob in all other circumstances. The laws are passed to satisfy the desires of the latter impulse.
The context is important. In Hamilton’s time nearly every country was ruled by a monarch. Unlike in Hamilton’s time our laws (and in many cases our judges) are products of the representaive democratic process and were made in the context of liberal values and the rule of law.
Clinton’s brother was pardoned for a 1985 drug sentence. Not because they’re investigating Bill Clinton. The GOP spent years investigating Whitewater and didnt find anything to pin on the Clintons. Pardoning an ex -partner after she served years in Jail and Bill was no longer being investigated just doesnt seem anything like Truml pardoning Stone, especially after Trump hinted that pardons might be forthcoming for people who didnt talk. Sleazy? Sure. Trump still tops Clinton here.
Steve