r/politics • u/vox Vox • 5h ago

Possible Paywall This Democrat’s accountability plan has Trump fuming

https://www.vox.com/america-actually/507018/elissa-slotkin-trump-accountability-plan-democratic-majority
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u/code603 4h ago

The pardon actually can serve a legitimate purpose. I think a better approach would be that it could only be applied to those after they’ve been tried and convicted.

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u/LoudAd1396 3h ago

I'm trying to think of a single legitimate purpose for an individual pardon.

I propose only blanket pardons. If the pardon is based on the law being unjust (eg marijuana poession) you can pardon everyone convicted of that crime. Same goes for fraud, child abuse, etc. No more favoritism and pardoning one special person who may or may not give you money...

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u/sloppy_rodney 3h ago

There have been people on death row, that were convicted and used up all of their appeals, but new evidence has come out to show that they were in fact innocent.

In those circumstances, the only way to prevent the execution of an innocent person is to use a pardon.

The same logic applies for life in prison, etc.

So there are some, rare, legitimate uses for single person pardons.

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u/LoudAd1396 3h ago

Those both sound like they should be up to judicial review, rather than allowing an outside executive that kind of power.

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u/sloppy_rodney 3h ago

I would have no problem with pardon power residing with judges rather than chief executives. Or some sort of special commission.

But I was simply responding to point out that there can be legitimate reasons to pardon a single person.

Even this only really applies to people who have had exculpatory evidence come to light after they have used up their appeals. That is a pretty uncommon circumstance. It has happened though.