Funny how it is insulting and irrelevant when written by conservatives but insightful academic discussion when written by liberals.
Dick Cheney Indicted
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Funny how it is insulting and irrelevant when written by conservatives but insightful academic discussion when written by liberals.
If a Cheney defender needs ideas on barbs to jab the Texas DA with she can always research pleasantries attributed to Ken Starr by Clinton partisans.
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Funny how it is insulting and irrelevant when written by conservatives but insightful academic discussion when written by liberals.
My reference to the discussion being mostly academic in nature was specific to the part about pardons...
See my words from Post 24
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I don't know for sure, either. I've found varying opinions, but I cannot understand how one can issue a blanket pardon, for a crime one has not been convicted of, yet. I have also been finding a lot of discussion about the difference in a state and federal charge vs pardons and who can do it. I guess a blanket pardon would be like a"get out of jail free card." That should upset Americans, no matter who is in the executive office.
Apprently, Presidential pardon powers are broad and rarely questioned. Clinton pardoned Marc Rich who had fled the US after filing of tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran charges against him. He was number two on the FBI most wanted list and had never been brought to trial since he had fled to Switzerland.
I heard a talking head on TV say that a president may even pardon someone after he leaves office. If Bush wants to pardon Cheney, Rove or even himself, he is free to do so and apparently can make it as broad as possible. As Governor, Bush pardoned very few people. No news here folks.
I heard a talking head on TV say that a president may even pardon someone after he leaves office. If Bush wants to pardon Cheney, Rove or even himself, he is free to do so and apparently can make it as broad as possible. As Governor, Bush pardoned very few people. No news here folks.
Funny how it is insulting and irrelevant when written by conservatives but insightful academic discussion when written by liberals.
the kind of tone and attitude put forth by BS's post is insulting and irrelevant and contributes nothing to the discussion. would not be insightful when written in such a way by anyone, liberal or conservative. its just BS, imo. no insight into anything except perhaps into the person posting such insults.
A simple primer......
http://people.howstuffworks.com/presidential-pardon.htm
What a Pardon is:
To fully understand what a pardon does, first consider that when a person is convicted of a felony, he loses his civil liberties -- the right to vote, serve on a jury, own a firearm. Living without certain rights is referred to as civil disability.
What a pardon does is restore these rights. Customarily, an individual's civil abilities are restored through a pardon after the person has served his prison sentence or paid his fine, but not always. (President Nixon was pardoned by President Ford before charges were even filed against him.)
Clemency is the term for the action taken by the president in a pardon. It can be any action of mercy granted to an individual convicted of a crime that has some affect on the conviction or sentence. Acts of clemency include the president's power to pardon, commute and give respite and remission.
One limitation is that a pardon cannot be issued for a crime that has not yet been committed. Pardons also don't affect civil cases, or state or local cases. Pardons are meant to dismiss sentences stemming from affronts to the United States through the breaking of laws. They're not intended to relieve an individual from his responsibility to make restitution to a victim's family, for example, which would be considered a personal affront. So a presidential pardon of a criminal sentence would not relieve the defendant from paying restitution from a related civil case.
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Thanks and this was confusing to me also. I see your post below about Nixon/Ford which is where I think I first heard it. So it looks like it is possible to get that "get out of jail free" card after all.