Source: The Dispatch
by Chris Stirewalt
“The highest use of the executive’s pardon power is in remedy of unfair punishments as a check on the excesses of the judicial branch. Merciful use of the kingly right or pardons can be corrective in individual cases and generally serve to keep the branches in balance. But alongside that is the other practical application envisioned by the framers: sewing up the national fabric. As Alexander Hamilton put it in The Federalist 74, ‘a well timed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquillity of the commonwealth.’ … President Biden could set a good example in saying that the pain and strife Trump caused in the 2020 election and its aftermath was laid to rest sufficiently by voters in the 2024 result. Even if, maybe especially if, he doesn’t think Trump deserves it.” (12/10/24)