As Bush gets ready to leave office the justice department says a record number of people asking for presidential pardons.

I wonder who he will pardon. I did a quick look and couldn't find one of who is asking.

Of course we all knew about Libby.

I also found a list of some of his other pardons.
http://blogs.chron.com/legaltrade/2008/03/presidential_pardons.html

Any thoughts on pardons?

Generally speaking, who they pardon is politically motivated, has nothing to do with justice. I would assume he'll pardon whichever of his cronies is in need of it.

Pardons are the ultimate abouse of power. Every Prez does them and it's lame. If you are worthy of pardon, why at the very last minute? I know that is when the Prez has LESS to do - if he/she is lame duck - but still. You know those favors are repaid six months later. It's mafiosa at the bare minimum.



My apologies to the mob for associating them with politicos.

In some cases I can understand pardons.

Ford's pardon of Nixon is probably the best known of all presidential pardons. They were tumulus times and I think, although I did not and do not support the pardon of Nixon, that Ford felt a trial of Nixon would have torn the country even further apart than it was at the time.

Other pardons are understandable as well. A person who has severed their time and has gone on to lead a productive and honorable life can have their record cleared by a pardon.

People clearly wrongly convicted but who are out of legal resources can also benefit from pardons.

There is speculation that Bush will prevent the investigation of administration officials by pardoning them before an investigation can be conducted to even determine if charges should be filed.

Personally I see that as fundamentally wrong.

What do you all think? Should Bush be able to pardon members of his administration for wrong-doings not yet discovered?

You can't pardon someone in advance. They have to be formally charged and convicted first. That's why you will see a logjam of high profile cases get moved up the docket around now.

It's another reason Bush will be chummy with Obama. He can ask Obama to pardon some of his "boys" as a favor later this way. It's pretty much unwritten rule that, unless it's an egregious situation which is publicly unveiled, pardons will be given in absentia by subsequent admins.

I could be wrong but I read enough to infer that this takes place. It's just sensible in a cookie-cutter, quid-pro-quo kinda' way.

Humm I am going to have to look at this issue a little more.

I have seen some speculation that the administration is considering actions to prevent investigation and prosecution of it's people.

I know some presidents have asserted that executive privilege extends past the length of their presidency. Obviously that would be another way to block possible investigations and to shield members of the administration.

It's been reported that while Obama's admin is already saying that they're not planning on seeking indictments for those who lied about intel towards war and those who manipulated the Laws of the land to condone torture, there is speculation that Bush will premptively pardon those in his Admin who did these things. That came out of the Rocky Mountain newspaper a few days ago, I think.

I don't see how you can pardon someone IN ADVANCE. If that's the case, can I just be pardoned now and then do whatever the heck I like 'til I die?

Executive privilege instated for purposes of "shielding" information which might make prosecuting someone IMPOSSIBLE is one thing. Pardoning someone outright is another thing entirely.

Hey War, where'd you go, btw? Did you see Gene Simmons on "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"

HYSTERICAL!

First, War works... ALOT and I'm a 3rd shifter, so I work, sleep and eat, but haven't been doing much else.

I'm not debating whether or not Bush is legally able to preemptively pardon people, but then again, he's not supposed to be able to preemptively invade and occupy nations that have not attacked us and he did that as well.

I did catch Gene on "5th grader", not only was it funny, he did very well.

AGREED

two more months ... two more months

I'd hate to be the Secret Service detail assigned to him. It may be a worse gig than Obama.

Nobody ever got their hands on Bush Sr. who was pretty bad in his own right, but I bet there are a whole slew of countries the Dubyah won't be traveling to anytime soon.

of course we all know about Marc Rich...with the help of...none other then...Eric Holder...