Ask HN: Do you think there's a possibility Obama will pardon Snowden?

Obama absolutely will not. His track record of abusing the "Justice" system to harass and torture whistleblowers says so.

Yes, it is torture. Facing an unwinnable war against the megalith for no reason other than you did the right thing will ruin your life, probably your family's, and adversely affect your health so that it will shorten your life.

Edit: It's my belief that exposing crimes committed by the government, which is charged with both obeying the law and enforcing it, is the right thing to do.

I don't believe so. If Snowden receives a pardon, it will be after a few decades of meaningful reform towards better privacy for citizens. I can't see this happening until most of the current political leaders have retired. The current generation will see him as a traitor and embarrassment for years to come.

The worst case scenario is that he will only be pardoned posthumously, ala Alan Turing. I hope that does not turn out to be the case.

Not a chance. A president pardoning someone who released tons of information about the government is unheard of. It's the same reason why the blue shield exists and why judges rarely convict cops. When you start turning on the system everything starts falling apart.

Unlikely. The U.S. voters best chance is to elect a candidate in 2016 who will pardon Snowden in 2020 on his last day in office. Then we can draft Snowden's ass and make him president for 4 or 8 years. That's a suitable punishment for his crimes.

No. A future president, possibly. This administration has shown a commitment to, and a strengthening of, the status quo of increased monitoring. The only changes they've made in that respect has been when they were caught with their pants down.

I'm going to go with "possibly." End-of-final-term presidential pardons are not subject to quite the same calculus as decisions made during term, i.e. reelection is not a consideration. Obama's constitutional law idealism may have been severely corrupted by the pressures of his current role, but it's still there. I could see him feeling conflicted about Snowden's de facto exile, and thus being willing to issue a pardon in his last hour in office.

Not likely. But possible. P(Pardon) > 0.1 ?

He hasn't been convicted of anything. Can't pardon someone without something to pardon them of.

I don't think anyone will unless there's massive reform/change. Otherwise - do people just keep blowing the same whistle?

Not a snowball's chance in hell.