Word: explaining
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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There are several theories to explain the surface equanimity of traditional Democrats in the face of the Jackson groundswell. For some it simply reflects an innate sense of fairness, coupled with the fear that any overt stop-Jackson movement would be perceived as racism. Others calculate that the Democrats are doomed to defeat if Jackson is either nominated or rebuffed and that permanently alienating his black supporters would do far greater long-term damage to the party...
...absolute. It is, in fact, a holdover from the days of absolute monarchy. "Historically," says Robert Burns, professor at the De Paul College of Law, "it is the power of the Crown, passed down to the President." Once a Chief Executive decides to invoke it, he need not explain himself and no legal or political challenge is possible. The courts have never articulated any binding standards because there are none in the Constitution, except that the President may not pardon in an impeachment case...
Strangely enough, the President could dust off and reissue a press release written to explain pardons given in 1981 to two men "who acted on high principle to bring an end to the terrorism that was threatening our nation." The two were high-ranking FBI officials convicted of authorizing illegal break-ins during 1972-73 investigations of the Weather Underground. The response by the prosecutor in that case, John Nields Jr., who served as chief House counsel in the Iran-contra hearings last summer, is just as apt today. Nields argued that pardons in such cases "send out a terrible...
...forever telling them ((local officials)) to go forward," says the fictional letter to Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, "but you never explain which way is forward. They themselves have no idea." That jest might not earn so much as a chuckle in a Johnny Carson monologue or an Art Buchwald column, but in the Soviet Union, where satirizing state officials can be harmful to one's health, the letter is a comedic landmark of sorts. Its appearance in the March issue of Theater, a glossy literary monthly, may mark the first time | that the name of a sitting Soviet leader...
Weld's resignation last Tuesday, along with those of Deputy Attorney General Arnold I. Burns and aides to the two officials, sent shock waves through Washington, D.C. and prompted renewed calls for Meese to step down. Although Weld and Burns refused to explain their actions, reports soonafter the resignations said they were motivated byconcerns that the Justice Department was beinghurt by investigations into alleged wrongdoings byMeese...