Time To Rein In Pardon Power
Nicole Stockdale, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, supports Margaret Colgate Love's argument that Presidential pardon power is a good thing, that it is a fundamental part of the Constitution's checks and balances and ensures that our legal system is applied in a just and moral manner. (Love is a former US pardon attorney.)
I'm with Love in general, but I think the Founders gave a little too much power to the President in this case. Yes, a Presidential pardon can be used to check excesses of the Judicial branch, but there's nothing to check Presidential abuse of the pardon. An eleventh hour pardon of political cronies just before a President leaves office puts criminals beyond the reach of justice without possibility of any consequences to the President, as he is soon out of office himself.
This isn't theoretical, as Bush has already used his power to commute sentences to benefit his Vice President's Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby. Richard Armitage, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby *all* spoke to reporters about Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent before Robert Novak outed her by printing it in a newspaper. Libby the lied about his role (and Dick Cheney's) and was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. Bush then commuted Libby's sentence and may yet pardon him before he leaves office.
A President using the power of the pardon to benefit his crooked cronies is unjust. A Constitutional check and balance is called for. Just like a Presidential veto can be overturned, a Presidential pardon ought to be reviewable as well. If George W Bush abuses his pardon power, perhaps it will be time for a Constitutional amendment allowing a two-thirds vote of the Congress to override and cancel a pardon.
What The Pope Is Listening To
Sam Hodges, in The Dallas Morning News Religion blog, tells us that the Vatican newspaper has praise for The Beatles' music. With the Vatican's belated imprimatur, I guess it's now official. The Beatles really were more popular than Jesus.
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