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Article: The law: presidential misuse of the pardon power.(Essay)
- Article from:
- Presidential Studies Quarterly
- Article date:
- December 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Center for the Study of the Presidency. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The purpose of this article is to explore why the presidential pardon power has been invoked by our last three presidents not merely for the traditional reasons of showing mercy or ensuring justice, but also in circumstances where the president may have enjoyed a personal benefit from exercising executive clemency. Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush each used clemency in inappropriate ways: either to help their own executive branch officials and possibly themselves to avoid judicial prosecution (Bush 1 and 2), or to excuse financial contributors and aides that, as the president himself, had been subjects of aggressive independent counsel ...