Biden should abuse the pardon power so egregiously that the Republican Congress is horrified into legislation limiting presidential power.
Of course, it wouldn’t take effect until Trump leaves office but still, a net gain for the health of our Republic.
I’m amazed to see a post that is actually on topic. I don’t know that I endorse the idea of Biden going crazy with his pardon power, but I honestly am happy to see an on topic post in this thread.
And the rest of the interview makes it clear that he has absolutely no idea how to do that. He talks about “sending it back to the people” as if he thinks he can call a nationwide referendum. Whatever executive action he tries to take regarding citizenship will either be watered down to the point of doing next to nothing or it will be stuck in court until President Ocasio-Cortez reverses it on 1/20/29.
Can’t predict the political scenario after 4 years but rn AOC cannot get elected in the all important swing states.
Moderating:
This is going off-topic. Let’s keep the Trump stuff in an appropriate Trump thread. This one is about Biden.
Wow, this thread is really wandered off-topic.
There is. Win in 4 years. Blanket pardons will be seen by a lot of voters as an abuse of power. That’s not how you gain voters back. You don’t win by playing right into the hands of the propaganda machine.
And how can Congress limit a constitutional power?
It worked for Trump.
Trump did not issue blanket pardons for possible crimes that he thought might possibly be charged later. It was speculated he would pardon himself and his family out of paranoia, but he never did. His pardons were pretty standard fare for outgoing presidents. What is being suggested here is much different than anything Trump did.
Careful, this thread is about Biden issuing Pardons.
They can’t. But that doesn’t mean they won’t try.
Not disputing, but for clarification of mod instructions:
is it permitted to draw comparisons between suggested Biden pardons, and Trump’s stated intention to pardon the Jan 6th rioters?
Let’s keep that out of this thread, this one has already ranged pretty far from the OP.
If there isn’t a thread for that subject, you could always start one.
For the record, I am the OP and I haven’t seen anything that I object to.
Oh, Ok then nevermind.
I have recently been thinking about this and while previously I was against blanket pardons I have changed my mind. I think Biden should preemptively pardon everyone. He should pardon everyone at the DOJ involved in investigating or prosecuting Trump, all the Impeachment managers, all the jurors, judges and prosecutors, all the officers involved in the Afghanistan withdrawal, all the doctors at the CDC and anybody else he can think of. Even if Trump cannot get a conviction on his “Trumped up” charges, he can make people’s lives hell and bankrupt them. He pardoned all of the criminals he still liked in his first administration. If Biden has a large enough list then it will not look like they are actually guilty but that he is protecting them from Trump’s retribution.
Full headline: Biden commutes roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single-day act of clemency
The clemency follows a broad pardon for his son Hunter, who was prosecuted for gun and tax crimes. Biden is under pressure from advocacy groups to pardon broad swaths of people, including those on federal death row, before the Trump administration takes over in January. He’s also weighing whether to issue preemptive pardons to those who investigated Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and are facing possible retribution when he takes office.
Biden has also weighed issuing pre-emptive pardons for prominent critics of his successor Trump in a bid to shield them from retribution after the president-elect takes office, but has reportedly been concerned about the precedent it would set.
In a CNN interview today Select Committee chair Bennie Thompson said he WOULD accept a pre-emptive pardon.
However, there is recent DOJ language about potential Trump pardons for Jan 6 prisoners, to the effect that ‘accepting a pardon is an admission of guilt.’ (I’m not seeing a cite yet. Point is: many of those Trump plans to persecute will NOT want to ‘admit guilt’ for simply having done their jobs.)
Perhaps the best answer might be to commit to creating a large Defense Fund that would shield Donald’s probable targets from financial hardship. That would certainly spoil Donald’s fun!
Among those pardoned was the “cash for kids” judge, Mark Ciavarella, in Pennsylvania who took money from operators of an institution to wrongfully send juveniles there. WTF, Joe? He was sentenced to 28 years! This scum bag was already released early due to covid and was under house arrest. Also, a tragedy. He should have died slowly in prison. Some non-violent offenders I’m OK with but this???