Bush Pardons Libby.
- Thread starter Gwokable
- Start date
not a pardon, but for all intents and purposes he's walking away free.
he's gotta pay the fines and he's got a perjury conviction. I think he'll be able to make enough on the book deal and speaking circuit to more than recover his lost lawyer fees and live comfortably for the rest of his life.
(legal loophole: the wording of the law says that he's not on probation if he didn't serve time in jail)
you're taking away the rights of american citizens in the process
please splain.
What the hell are you smoking? No, not at all.
every american has the right to ask the president for clemency
in restricting his right to suspend a sentence or pardon someone, you're taking away their rights as american citizens in the process.
no one related in any way to the president can ever be falsely convicted? If they are, well according to you they're shit out of luck.
just because there is a conflict of interest doesn't mean you rule against them by default. the reasonable approach would be to hand over the pardon to an independent board of some sort.
Hold on there, sport. We have this thing called "seperation of power." What gives the president the right to determine that someone was falsely convicted? We have juries, judges, and an elaborate judicial system in place for that.
That independent board already exists, it's something we like to call a "judge" and a "jury."
Article 2 Section 2 of the US Constitution?
Funny, i dont remember that in the Constitution. This has nothing to do with rights, sorry.
United States Constitution, Article II, Section 2, which states that the President: "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment."
The PRESIDENT has the power to do this. It isnt about your RIGHT to be granted it or even to have your request reviewed. I may be wrong, but i highly doubt you have the RIGHT to have your case even addressed by the President.
Why not in cases of impeachment? Think about it.
Sorry.
The President is more than a person. It's an institution. If the person in that position is able to grant clemency to themselves, to their family, to their staff or to their financial partners... it compromises the integrity of the institution.
In the case of staff, they are PART of the "President" as an office. For him/her to grant clemency to STAFF is akin to granting clemency to themselves.
And in a situation where the behavior involves something like Obstruction of Justice, it's more than a little fuckin inappropriate for the Presidency to be granting clemency to itself. In fact, it's to say that the Presidency is entirely above the law.
I dont disagree regarding an independent board. Technically, all clemency cases go through the Department of Justice and there are regulations regarding the Pardon Attorneys who review cases and make recommendations. But whatever would be done would have to be formulated within a careful balance of powers.
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