President Ronald Reagan, however, pardoned only about 200 each term. Clinton has done nothing to restore the routine use of this power, pardoning or commuting the sentences of only 35 people a year, on average. Now, with so few pardons issued, the chances are much higher that each will be closely scrutinized. As someone who could write the book on the importance of forgiveness, President Clinton surely understands that his final pardons will give him a chance to display the highest human virtues, or the basest of political and self-serving motives. Remember that the pardon traces its lineage, through the European monarchs, straight back to the idea of divine grace.
Forgiveness puts the past behind and goes forward.
Having served their sentences and returned to useful lives in their communities, a pardon for these petitioners recognizes their rehabilitation and offers a fresh start. By honoring their petitions, Clinton can demonstrate the quality of mercy, the greatest of human virtues. But if a pardon is a gift, it should not be a quid pro quo . And there's a notable history of that practice. The great number of papal indulgences sold in the Middle Ages was a scandal.