every american has the right to ask the president for clemency
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.
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.
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.