Word: pardoners
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Although the pardon saves Nixon from standing trial, it probably will not silence those who have been arguing that under a legal system promising equal justice for all, even a for mer President should be prosecuted if he is suspected of having broken the law. Moreover, few of Nixon's recent statements?as reported by friends?indicate any contrition. He has complained acidly, for example, that his former supporters in Congress "deserted" him when he needed them most...
President Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon may betray questionable judgment. There is no question of its constitutionality. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution provides that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States except in cases of impeachment...
Presidents in the past have made frequent use of the pardoning power -though never before on behalf of a former President. But while most uses of Executive clemency have resolved criminal cases for good, Ford's pardon of Nixon creates new legal tangles in the already snarled Watergate affair...
...legal proceedings, the leading member of a criminal group is most actively prosecuted and gets the stiffest sentence if convicted. Now that the highest-ranking person in the Watergate affair would go free, it seemed doubtful to many lawyers that any jury would send his subordinates to jail. The pardon also raised a question about the fate of the nine who have already been sent to prison; John Dean began his one-to-four-year term only last week...
...Violation. Other lawyers, however, questioned that pardoning Nixon would affect others still facing trial. Said Stanford Law Professor John Kaplan: "The fact that one person has been pardoned does not constitute a violation of the equal-protection clause of the Constitution." In addition, the Nixon pardon has provided both the Watergate prosecutors as well as the defense lawyers with a whole new element: the assured testimony of the ex-President. In granting Nixon a pardon, Ford made it difficult for the former President to refuse to testify in future Watergate trials by claiming his Fifth Amendment rights against selfincrimination...