In the context of human evolution, certain existing traits that no longer perform their pre-historic function, are classified as “vestigial,” viz., the appendix, tonsils, male nipples, and coccyx (tail).
Consistent with the often-used metaphorical reference to government as the “body politic,” we would choose to refer to an analogical political practice as, “vestigial.” Such practice, deemed acceptable in the (medieval) era of the “divine right of Kings,” (688-725 A.D.) remains, an atavistically surviving anachronism, notably inconsistent (albeit Constitutional) with the functioning of the contemporary Democratic Republic, viz., the “Presidential Pardon.”
Article 2 (2) of the U.S. Constitution grants to the President of the United States the power to pardon any person accused or convicted of a Federal crime, except impeachment. We are obliged in principle to doubt the appropriate existence of this pre-emptive right in a Nation, ruled by an elected President, whose essential and defining principle is “No man is above the law,” and which is characterized by a democratically established judicial system for the impartial determination of guilt or innocence.
Some examples of the constitutionally approved, nevertheless, empirically, un-American and entirely arbitrary grant of pardon, which, in our view, exemplify the derogation of the foundational principle of “equal injustice under the law,” are as listed below:
- Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon for the intentional crimes against the Nation by his active part in the Watergate Conspiracy,
- Donald Trump’s pardon of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio for egregious abuse of power, inclusive of torture of “criminal” inmates, misuse of funds, election law crimes and racial abuse,
- William J. Clinton’s pardon of financier, Marc Rich, indicted for substantial tax evasion and the commission of tax fraud, whose wife had given large donations to the Clintons,
- Donald J. Trump’s pardon of Michael Flynn for treasonous behavior regarding Russia and lying to the F.B.I.[ N.B. Trump wielded the power of pardon, reportedly, 41 times to benefit his political allies and personal friends during his single ( 4 years) term of office.]
These are but a small but revelatory number of illustrative instances of the myriad instances of the use of the (vestigial) Presidential power of Pardon for the unacceptable purpose of exempting friends and financial supporters from the universal application of the law. If the Presidential franchise had any acceptable post-monarchial rationale for its existence, it appears to have been rationalized as designated for the avoidance of substantive injustice or the existence of rationally cognizable mitigation. However, its historical record indicates that its empirical use has historically proven unjust and prejudicially undemocratic.
In the interest of plain justice and, notably, the American aspirational standard of universal equality, we humbly recommend an appropriately just Constitutional Amendment, expunging this inequitable, arbitrary vestigial remnant of the privileged Monarchial past.
-p.
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