In less than 2 years Obama will be leaving us. Who do you think he will grant Presidential pardons to on his way out???
I will start with Ray Nagin and that rasta in Philly who shot the police officer. Any guesses ????

same as it ever was
same as it ever was


mumia won't be pardoned, but can you name convicts that other presidents have pardoned or just repeating what a talk show host said recently?

Notable ones I noticed is Hoffa by Nixon, Nixon by Ford, Robert Lee by Ford (even though Grant pardoned a lot of the Confederate leaders), Patty Hearst by Carter, George Steinbrenner (had no idea about this one), and Roger Clinton Jr. by his brother Bill.

Can Presidents pardon themselves??

I don't believe so. If they could, Nixon really screwed up not pardoning himself, and staying in office.

Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon, it would be a pretty twisted country allowing you to commit a crime and then just pardon yourself

thanks

What's interesting about the list is, don't know if you all remember a group called the Fugees. Hip hop group out of NJ that made a big pop splash in the late 1990s. An associate of theirs and unofficial member of the group John Forte was caught running liquid coke smuggling ring.


He's on the list of people that George W. pardoned and I thought it was a joke at first.

The singer Carly Simon was behind the effort so I guess she still has a lot of pull.

Article II does not place any limitations on Presidential authority for [criminal] offenses against the United States except impeachment. Thus, President Nixon would still have been subject to civil suits and state prosecutions.

However, I believe he could have pardoned himself

No Sir, I haven't heard this on any talk show and haven't listened to talk shows in years. I know Clinton pardoned Mark Rich and probably anyone else who contributed to him. I was just thinking about contriversial ones and trying to get something going here.

This a list of some of the most notable pardons (and commutations) granted by US Presidents since George washington. I usually don't cite Wiki sources, but I reviewed it and it looks legit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_peo...e_United_States

Nixon's pardons were the most shameful imho: 2 gangsters (who in my opinion surely committed murder on certain points of their careers) and 1 war criminal (killed children and women). Not some petty crooks.

I guess if you are a criminal, it pays to contribute to a president, further proving to me , that there is not one politician alive who doesn't sell him or herself like a whore in the street, presidential pardons can be bought.

Obama will probably follow the path of most recent presidents and pardon his big contributors who ran afoul of the law.

Bill Clinton pardoned several Hasidic Jews who fraudulently bilked money from the government. That year Hillary got elected as Senator from New York (carpetbagger). She got 99% of the Orthodox/Hasidic vote. Coincidence?

I thought she became senator around '04? Maybe I got it confused with her re-election.

President Clinton's last day in office was 1/20/2001; Hillary Clinton's first day as a US Senator was 1/3/2001.

Obama already pardoned 5 million illegal aliens.

Interesting. Thanks for the information.

You're welcome. By the way, I forgot to mention that the pardons mentioned above were not pardons. President Clinton only reduced the term of their sentencing, the least of which was 24 months and such clemency was granted after Mrs. Clinton's senatorial election.

Yes. This was discussed by Nixon's lawyers with Alexander Haig. It is a broad statement that presidents can grant pardons. The PR fallout would have been terrible and, to their credit, Nixon and his lawyers recognized the damage that would have been done with a self-pardon.

If you're interested in this, read The Final Days by Woodward & Bernstein. It's a fascinating look at the last 100 days of the Nixon presidency. Nixon even refused to pardon his two top administration men, Haldeman & Ehrlichman. In fact, Haldeman called repeatedly to request a pardon in the days leading up to Nixon's resignation.