 |
Conservative Lawyers Urge Bush To Issue ‘Pre-Emptive Pardons’ To Officials Involved In Illegal Programs
Think Progress
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The New York Times reported this weekend that “[f]elons are asking President Bush for pardons and commutations at historic levels as he nears his final months in office, a time when many other presidents have granted a flurry of clemency requests.” However the Times noted that despite commuting Scooter Libby’s prison sentence, applicants “should expect to be disappointed” because Bush “has made little use of his clemency power” compared to past presidents.
Except perhaps if you participated in any illegal activity involving the Bush administration’s controversial counterterrorism programs. According to the Times, “several members of the conservative legal community” in Washington D.C. are urging Bush to issue “pre-emptive pardons” to those involved so as to “not be exposed even to the risk of an investigation and expensive legal bills”:
Such a pardon would reduce the risk that a future administration might undertake a criminal investigation of operatives or policy makers involved in programs that administration lawyers have said were legal but that critics say violated laws regarding torture and surveillance.
Some legal analysts said Mr. Bush might be reluctant to issue such pardons because they could be construed as an implicit admission of guilt. […]
“The president should pre-empt any long-term investigations,” said Victoria Toensing, who was a Justice Department counterterrorism official in the Reagan administration. “If we don’t protect these people who are proceeding in good faith, no one will ever take chances.”
(Article continues below)
Stuart Taylor, Jr., a constitutional law fellow at Brookings, agrees, saying in a recent Newsweek column that investigations into the Bush administration’s “high level ‘war crimes’” are a “bad idea” and instead called for a “truth commission“:
A criminal investigation would only hinder efforts to determine the truth, and preclude any apologies. It would spur those who know the most to take the Fifth. Any prosecutions would also touch off years of partisan warfare. […]
Absent pardons, pressure to go after GOP “war criminals” would make it very hard to unite Americans of all stripes behind solutions to the many economic and social challenges facing the country.
In fact, the conservative D.C. lawyer circuit may just get its wish. The White House “would not say whether the administration was considering pre-emptive pardons, nor whether it would rule them out.” (HT: Dan Froomkin)
Prison
Planet.tv Members Can Watch
Fall Of The Republic
Right Now Online -
Don't Miss Out! Get
Your Subscription Today!
CANCER CONSPIRACY? Are
"they" suppressing the cure? Will YOU
be the next victim? Learn
the Secret Truth! - READ FULL STORY
-
- Social bookmarks
- Email this article
-
- Print this page
17 Responses to “Conservative Lawyers Urge Bush To Issue ‘Pre-Emptive Pardons’ To Officials Involved In Illegal Programs”
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |||||||
| By N2H | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:43 am
this is BS! how can you have a preemptive pardon?! a pardon assumes there has been a guilty verdict for a crime that has ALREADY been committed. last i heard the constitution doesnt grant the president the power to hand out ‘get out of jail free’ cards for the future…’just in case…’. where is the outrage?!!
people should be furious about this kind of talk. we are a country of laws, not dictators and thugs in his coalition who can do what they want without consequences. the country doesnt need to unite behind solultions. we need to get at the bottom of who committed crimes and hold them up as examples for future law breakers. maybe if nixon and the regan regime hadnt been pardoned our present criminal regime would not have been so emboldened.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:52 am
Impeachment works in South Korea, but in the United States, it doesn’t.
Why?
Because America is not even a Democratic country in the first place. America is merely a tool to be used to control the global economy, and seriously, that is why America is always desperate on the world issues.
The New World Order, we can not stop it. It is already too late.
TOO LATE I say. Or what, what are you gonna do to make a change in this world? What, and how?
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:01 am
Pardon them? He’s going to hang alongside them.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:33 am
“The president should pre-empt any long-term investigations,” said Victoria Toensing, who was a Justice Department counterterrorism official in the Reagan administration. “If we don’t protect these people who are proceeding in good faith, no one will ever take chances.”
YOU FKEN TRAITORS, YOU ARE THERE TO FOLLOW THE LAW….ONLY.
YOUR PARDONS WILL DO NO GOOD, WE WILL STILL HANG THE TRAITORS AFTER THE TRIALS.
CRIMINALS CAN NOT ABSOLVE THEMSELES OF CRIMINALITY.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:34 am
TREASON IS NOT PARDONABLE.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:35 am
WERE NOT GONNA TAKE THIS, NO WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT
WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE THIS ANYMORE.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:36 am
joe
The New World Order, we can not stop it. It is already too late.
YOU ARE A SORRY AZZ LOSER.
IT’S NOT OVER TILL EVERYONE OF US ARE DEAD, UNTIL THEN THE FIGHT GOES ON AND ON.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:23 am
There is no outrage from the people because they are IMMUNE to it after 8 freakin’ years of being drenched in traitorous crime after war crime after constitutional crime, ad nauseum. It has always been the 2% of the body politic that has affected change in any system. That means 2% of the citizenry are patriots, the rest are dumb, dumb sheeple…still a watchin’ TV!!!
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:49 am
Clinton preemptively pardoned Marc Rich. So there is a precident. I would say though that Bush needs to be hauled into court and tried for war crimes in his last few days and denied any executive power during that time so he couldn’t start another war.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
It sounds like to me, a Presidential Immunity from Prosecution Pardon. Just like Bush has been pardoning himself since he got in the White House! Then he has his goon squad out there to make sure everybody else see it his way! So the conclusion is that it will be over when the fight is over for every last Patriot.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:04 am
“TOO LATE I say.”
It’s never too late. Fifty million zionist christians who believe in the end of the world and all the death and destruction to come, just because the bible says so are not giving up, they will fight to their dying breath to make sure armagiddeon takes place, based on a book?
We the people are not giving up…slavery is not an alternative. To be free is our natural estate.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Bush, the one responsible for illegal programs, is going to “pardon” people who participated in his illegal programs. Wouldn’t that be exactly like Nixon pardoning G Gordon Liddy & that lot back in the Watergate era? Yeah, I don’t think the President has the Constitutional authority to do that.
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
What Constitution? This administration has done away with that; it’s just a piece of paper anyway!! We now officially live in a police state, and the first major city to be used as a template is Chicago, IL. The city of big shoulders where after years of police abuse, the African American community is so gratefull, that they now “voluntarily” give their DNA samples to help out with a murder case on the South Side. The news anchor could hardly believe what he was reading, and it showed on his face. Luckily we have these “National Guard” black choppers on stand-by: it’s for our own good.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
The list of officials who seek pardon now provides a list for us to consult when the time comes for the ‘people’s justice’. When that day comes, the list of ‘pardons’ will become a list of indictments, many of them leading to public execution.
The USA never was a true democracy, and it really never championed freedom or justice. There is nothing sacred about the USA, and it is way past its ‘pull date’ on the shelf of world history. After the Revolution, we can create a society that is far, far better than that piece of shyte they call the USA.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
I don’t get it. So the President can pardon anybody, at any time, for any thing? If thats so, what is to keep the President from doing anything, especially acts that are invariably criminal? If he can just go back and pardon people, he can do anything he wants.
There is no check on this power.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Susan, ur my kinda gal! Great comments. I’m agnostic when it comes 2 “gods”, but never doubt the lengths that “true believers will go 2 4 their various “gods”. Take bush 4 example, he actually believes “god” told him 2 invade Iraq. This is his rational 2 perpetrate the largest thievery n modern history, paid 4 w/ ur tax $$$ 2 his private $bank$ account. Remember what this madman said, “All options r on the table”. They will say or do anything, all in the name of “god”. Keep UR powder dry!
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:42 am
im a bible believer. True believers know people like hagee are nuts. If this is the end, it is God’s time table not mans. we can blame the illegals, christians, or gays for our ills. The truth is it is our fault. we keep voting dems and reps in. I have been saying for years there is no difference. Check out who the big campaign donors are for both parties. Check out who both parties have for advisors and check out past administrations advisors. check out the oil connections for the past 50 to 60 years in the middle east. Check out the pipelines in afganistan and pakistan and where the oil is going. once you figure out what is really going on, you’ll still vote for the candidate THEY want in office and that is either the dem or rep. So just line up and get your real id or chip, pay the outrageous taxes, or lose your head, all that is in the bible too.