The power to pardon is part of our network of checks and balances. The willy-nilly granting of pardons is burdensome, unacceptable to the public and an undermining of enacted laws and their administration. Selective granting of pardons may well serve, as Justice Holmes noted, the public welfare. A number of Mr. Clinton's pardons diminish public welfare, erode belief in the Pardoning Power as an important policy tool and create very understandable cynicism, only some of which is partisan in nature. Assuming that his explanation is truthful, I have to wonder if Mr. Clinton was sleepwalking through his last days as a two-term president who had to know that his reservoir of public trust was at the severe drought stage.
Future presidents ought to consider the following when contemplating granting pardons.
The granting of a pardon is, or ought to be, educative in that it may point out how mercy can temper the rigorous application of the law. William Jefferson Clinton has neither educated nor exalted the highest office in the land. His explanation is weak, disbelieved by many and certain to remain a lasting stain on his often brilliant presidency. The man lied under oath, with God as his witness. Donald Howell New Jersey I could not agree more.