A scholar of political institutions says how Trump’s pardon deviates from other presidential pardons.
It is hard to gauge the political fallout of the president’s decision — announced as it was late on a Friday night during an impending hurricane. Normally, though, as political scientist Jeffrey Crouch’s book on the pardon power makes clear, pardons are granted for two reasons: either to provide mercy or correct a miscarriage of justice, in an individual case; or on more general grounds based on public policy.
Trump’s doesn’t fit the mercy category very well, because of its haste and because of the lack of contrition.
… Read the rest(Further, in considering such petitions, “The extent to which a petitioner has accepted responsibility for his
