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Originally Posted by Sidd Finch
I'm still trying to understand the rationale for a pardon. Is it limited to that issuing a pardon says that the current president believes the conduct is illegal?
If that's the rationale, then should Obama also pardon the cop who murdered Garner?
Or do you believe that a pardon is actually justified here? I don't think you do, because you say you think they should be prosecuted.
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A pardon can say pretty much what the President wants it to say, other than a pardon for acts not yet committed. Ford's pardon of Nixon basically pardoned him for everything he did in the White House or while running in the 1972 campaign. It swept in Cambodia, Laos (you know, other states the US has unlawfully bombed in my lifetime), the IRS audit program he set up, the other illegal surveillance he did against his "enemies."
If rendered on a timely enough basis, it can keep certain facts from coming to light at trial, whether the person being pardoned is convicted or not.
