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Comment by antattack | Hacker News Reader

I have yet to see one good historical example or even a hypothetical argument given for presidential pardon to exist. Also, if there really is a separation of power than President should not meddle in Judicial branch affairs.

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Hypothetically, a law can be broken in a way where it is moral or necessary to do so, a punishment can be overly severe, or the law itself can be deemed as amoral. For example, should minor drug offenders sit in prison with COVID threatening their lives?

What is moral is in the eye of the beholder. If we are nation of law we follow the law and update it when necessary through Legislative branch. As to your example, Obama pardoned few minor drug offenders but it was a drop in a bucket, one time deal. People who voted for decriminalization of of Marijuana had much larger impact. Presidential pardon is a power given to POTUS that is not needed for functioning of a democratic society. It's a power royalty used to have and should be just used for pardoning the turkeys.

Are you saying that those minor drug offenders Obama pardoned should have waited in prison for some law to maybe pass? Even more important, what about Governor's pardoning powers? Those have been used to positive effect many times, should those go away too?

Its an imperfect system, just following the script that law provides will lead to injustices. Having an escape hatch is a good thing, even if it is occasionally abused. I would support federal/state congresses overturning pardons though.

No but we do not need pardoning in lieu of legal reform

The legal system isn't perfect.

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