Do you think power to pardon is a good power for president

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Reference no: EM133707913

Assignment:

Discussion Post: The Power to Pardon

Recent pardon and clemency orders by President Donald J. Trump have thrust the perennial debate about the president's use of pardon and clemency powers back into the spotlight.

On February 18, 2020, President Trump granted. four clemency orders (including one for former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich) and seven pardons (including grants to financier Michael Milken, former New York City police chief Bernard Kerik, and businessman Edward DeBartolo Jr.).

President Trump is not the only one who has issued controversial pardons: pardons issued by President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama have also stirred controversy, and President Ford granted what is possibly the most controversial pardon of all time: he pardoned former President Nixon after he was involved in the Watergate Scandal. (Nixon was able to receive this pre-emptive pardon under the precedent established by the Supreme Court in Ex Parte Garland (1866).)

As you know, the President is allowed to pardon people under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The clause says that the president "shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment." While the president's powers to pardon may appear to be unlimited, the President can only pardon people for a federal crime, and pardons cannot be applied for in impeachments cases that were tried and convicted by Congress.

Even though presidential pardons have become very controversial and political today, contemporary presidents use the power to pardon a lot less than their predecessors.

Overall, do you think the power to pardon is a good power for presidents to have? Why, or why not? What do contemporary exercises of the power to pardon say about the norms surrounding the pardon/clemency process?

Reference no: EM133707913

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