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Comment by UltraSane | Hacker News Reader

Presidents and governors should NOT have the power to pardon people. And if they do it should be ONE pardon per term.

Until you can prove to me that all courts, judges, attorneys, and juries are above reproach and no innocent people are imprisoned there absolutely should be a method for someone to pardon. Sometimes a pardon will be issued for people you disagree with, but that’s part of it. Just like somebody will say something that pisses you off, but that’s the cost of free speech

A single person should never have the sole power to undo an unlimited number of lawful convictions. It seems like a power designed for corruption.

is the power to put people in prison designed for corruption? And if so, should it be limited to a max of 1 person / judge / term?

The court system has a LOT more checks than one man's whims

you say lawful convictions, but yet have not provided any evidence of all convictions being lawful. we absolutely know that people have been wrongly imprisoned. but at this point i feel like i'm talking to a 3month old bot

I trust a conviction by a unanimous jury verdict with strict rules of evidence than but the whims of one person.

Are you proposing to drown mercy and forgiveness in bureaucracy?

Corruption is a valid point generally. And this question can be raised when discussing pardon for president's family. But is this point valid for this specific case, for the man who already spent 11 years in prison and has no relation to the president?

I'm only in my 40s and I have already seen Presidents and Governors pardon people that absolutely shouldn't have been pardoned.

The authority to pardon is one of the most direct indicators we have for the moral character of an executive.

So?

So I'd prefer to give a good person the power to do good things by pardoning those worthy of liberty, and a bad person the power to make their corruption evident for the world to see.

I see absolutely no reason to have the risk of terrible pardons like we have seen over and over in the US. Clinton pardoned Mark Rich while he was still wanted by the DOJ because he donated a lot. Trump just pardoned everyone convicted in the Jan 6 insurrection.

Less that than that the obviously corrupt, criminal, and/or treasonous should be kept from office at all costs.

Either way, obviously, the system has failed.

Or as the commonplace goes, is working as designed.

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