Why do Presidential Pardons exist?

[laughing dog]

That's a good point. But the better remedy would be to undo those laws and enact a blanket ruling that states those laws never existed as proper laws, so those "convicted" of them never were, and are to go free. They are innocent and need not have any criminal record or admit to any wrongdoing. That would apply to EVERYONE and not just select people that the President, governor or whoever decides to privilege, while others still sit in prison for the same actions.

That better remedy is a utopian thinking.

Courts keep a record of every conviction. Prisoners have files stating what they were convicted for. Doesn't take much to let the people go who shouldn't be in there once the law is struck retroactively. Why is this so utiopian to you?

In the USA, most crimes are violations of state and local laws. It is simply naive to believe that all 50 states will agree on the same standards for what should be legalized and agree to make this retroactive. You are basically advocating the equivalent of waiving a magic wand to achieve your goal.

And, it is almost the same thinking for getting a constitutional amendment to eliminate the Presidential pardon. You do realize that we, as a country, could not the Equal Rights Amendment ratified, and that one has more scope and influence on society.

Or do you wish to maintain this privilege for some and not for others at the whim of the President?

I prefer solutions that are achievable. And Presidential pardon exists, and while not perfect, does produce some good. Apparently you prefer that all people who deserve to be pardoned get pardoned or none of them get one.

 

[barbos]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/24/trump-manafort-pardon-white-house-aides-795712
Trump wants to pardon Manafort. What if Trump eventually gets convicted? does that reverse his pardon? I mean both cases would clearly be related.

 

[Copernicus]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/24/trump-manafort-pardon-white-house-aides-795712
Trump wants to pardon Manafort. What if Trump eventually gets convicted? does that reverse his pardon? I mean both cases would clearly be related.

No, Trump's subsequent fate would have no effect on his pardon. Manafort's pardon would be absolute. This power to pardon was modeled after the right of English kings to pardon. The only exception to the right is in cases of impeachment--and exception that was added by Parliament as a check on the king's power.

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

Revolting against Monarchy only to set your president up with the powers of king. Good job USA.

 

[laughing dog]

Revolting against Monarchy only to set your president up with the powers of king. Good job USA.

Past and present citizens of the USA thank you. We set the example for other colonies of the British empire to follow in terms of seeking their independence.

As to your comment, the American revolution was against Britain, not the Monarchy. Parliament held the power to make laws and enforce them - the King was simply a symbol against which the colonists revolted. There is nothing inherently wrong with having a mechanism to allow justice to be rectified or humanitarian compassion to be served in isolated cases. The US constitution was devised about 250 years ago, in a different time when people had different mores and views about the world than the modern mind. There was (and is) nothing fundamentally wrong or immoral with giving someone the power to overturn a court verdict or to keep someone from punishment. Even you implicitly agree with part of that because judges have the power to overturn a court verdict and, in the USA, state and local judges are elected (i.e. are politicians).

Apparently, the people of the USA over the past 250 years or so, disagree with your viewpoint because there has not been a concerted effort to amend our constitution. This may be hard for someone to accept, but it is possible that these citizens of the USA have the right to structure their system of governance to suit their needs. And it is possible that they are more adult enough to realize that whether powers are used well or poorly depends on the users, not the powers. And it is also possible that they understand that until there is evidence that those powers are being sufficiently "abused", the cost and effort of changing those powers can be best used to deal with more larger or more pressing issues.



Hence your comment is based on