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Jim Dueholm's avatar

Good post. My only quarrel is the suggestion pardon of violent criminals is at odds with a president's duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. The pardon power is not limited to miscarriages of justice, and there could well be factors that prompt a president to pardon violent criminals. If he had lived Lincoln would almost certainly have issued mass pardons of those who had waged war against the United States and had killed and injured American citizens. A president may feel that a sentence is too severe, or that the prosecution or sentence are at odds with the treatment of similar miscreants, or that a prosecution is politically motivated, or that justice should be tempered by mercy. And as a matter of constitutional construction, the fact the pardon power is unfettered suggests it's not at odds with other provisions in the Constitution. A president is constitutionally empowered to pardon or commute by whatever moves him to do so, and when he does so he doesn't stumble over other provisions in the Constitution. Jim Dueholm

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CjB's avatar

I am puzzled by the ABC stat that illegal immigrants are held in a more favorable light than legal immigrants. Any insights other than highly paid tech and medical professionals taking jobs from Americans?

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