Pardon me, Mr. President!
Mere hours after his return to presidency, Donald Trump dealt one of his first (of many) devastating blows toour justice system; granting sweeping pardons, commutations and case dismissals for more than 1,500 rioters involved in the 2021 Jan. 6 Capitol riots. The insurrection, spurred by Trump’s reckless election denialism, saw his supporters trespass and breach the Capitol, damage government property, hunt for lawmakers as they hid in fear and assault over 140 officers tasked with protecting our democratic institution. Officers were beaten, some even knocked unconscious and subsequently, four officers who served that day later took their own lives.
It’s unfathomable to think that those who attacked the American government and the officers who protect our representatives, now walk free without facing the implications of their actions. Given the entire world was watching the events unfold, it’s even more astounding to see Trump’s audacious portrayal of these criminals as “patriots” and “political hostages”, who were assembling “peacefully” to preserve his so-called democracy. When these people, who committed crimes in his name receive clemency, it not only diminishes the gravity of their actions but sets a dangerous precedent – that violence is acceptable as long as it aligns with his interests. To the two rioters who publicly declined the pardon, thank you for showing integrity, more so than our current sitting president.
Using pardons as a way to strengthen his political support, Trump also recently drew attention for the pardoning of Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road. Notorious for facilitating illegal underground drug trades on the Tor dark web, the website was associated with drug overdoses and serious crimes including computer hacking and murder-for-hire plots. The situation becomes ridiculously hypocritical when Trump uses drugs as a reason to impose hefty tariffs on our neighboring countries but sets free a large-scale drug-market facilitator, who profited millions. It’s blatant that Trump’s actions were motivated to score political points with libertarian voters, who long called for his release, and the cryptocurrency industry, which hailed Ulbricht as a hero for his successful use of Bitcoin on Silk Road.
While incomparable in scale, Trump isn’t the only president whose used his power to serve personal interests. Backtracking on previous comments, Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden – who he described as being “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.” – struck a disappointing and discordant note. Sure, judges might have been prosecuting him with increased scrutiny. But notably, unfair politicized prosecution is exactly what Trump used to rationalize pardons for the Jan. 6 rioters, the reasonings of which effectively undermines public confidence in the justice system. It’s true that Biden used his power to commute sentences for people with the death penalty and thousands of non-violent drug offenses that disproportionately handed sentences to those before drug reform laws were passed. But in a time when citizens desperately needed integrity and restored confidence in both the presidential and judicial powers, Biden’s choices fell short.
AP Government teacher Amy Bisson speaks on the role of accountability in the use of pardons.
“In the past, there has been a sense that pardons should be done with integrity, and I don’t necessarily know today if they’re all being used for the right reasons,” Bisson said. ”But I do think they have a purpose in government and there just needs to be some checks and balances or limitations on this.”
In an absurd turn of events, with Trump actively seeking retribution for people investigating the riots, Biden also issued preemptive pardons for all members of the Bipartisan House committee that investigated the attack and the officers who testified in court against the rioters. With Trump currently pushing for reprisals on those who investigated the cases, Biden’s choice seem to make sense. But pre-pardoning in response to unbased claims also exposes the lack of trust the Biden administration had in the law.
It’s clear when politicians on both sides of the aisle are able to abuse the political system of pardons for their personal gain, something requires change. Personally, I would like to think that presidents have enough integrity not to abuse their powers and the justice system is strong enough to withstand the baseless political attacks without the need for pardons, but that might be asking for too much.