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Comment by noobermin | Hacker News Reader

This has been discussed before. A President can pardon people for crimes they may be charged with in the future.

Yes, but politically, "we dropped her sentence to seven years in jail" is more tenable than "we pardoned someone who never stood trial nor served a day in jail".

Valid point. The possibility is real, but the difficulty you highlighted may make it less likely.

Not that there is no precedent of course (Nixon).

So don't pardon Snowden. Commute the charges against him. Like 97% of the cases that go to prosecution in this country, let him plea to a lesser crime and serve a 10 year sentence, minus time served in Russia.

Edit: Sorry, this was rubbish, I was thinking of Assange not Snowden. -- Note that charges (technically, a European Arrest Warrant in order to get him for questioning) against Snowden have not been made by the U.S. but by Sweden, for a suspected rape. So Obama definitely cannot commute them in any way.

There is no extradition request to the U.S., so when fighting an extradition to U.S., Snowden is beating a straw man.

That's Julian Assange, not Edward Snowden.

Sorry. Yes of course. Thanks.

> So don't pardon Snowden. Commute the charges against him.

Commutation is reduction of sentence, it can only happen after conviction.

> Like 97% of the cases that go to prosecution in this country, let him plea to a lesser crime

Is there any indication that Snowden has any interest in pleading guilty to anything?

The good ole Nixon pardon

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