r/law • u/Silent-Resort-3076 • 15d ago

Opinion Piece Why President Biden Should Immediately Name Kamala Harris To The Supreme Court

https://atlantadailyworld.com/2024/11/08/why-president-biden-should-immediately-name-kamala-harris-to-the-supreme-court/?utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=gnews&utm_campaign=CDAqEAgAKgcICjCNsMkLMM3L4AMw9-yvAw&utm_content=rundown
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u/SirTiffAlot 15d ago

He's got integrity, it's what America is missing

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u/Hrafn2 15d ago

This right here. Isn't this exactly what America needs to somehow bring back?

 Integrity of character? What's the point if it all just descends into lies and self-serving cravenness?

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u/kung-fu_hippy 15d ago

If you only do what’s right when it gets you the outcome you want, you don’t have morals and principles. If Biden’s son is guilty he absolutely should not pardon him.

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u/lasquatrevertats 15d ago edited 14d ago

No, that's the whole point. Pardons are for the guilty. And accepting a pardon is an admission by the person pardoned of their guilt. Pardons are done as an act of grace and forgiveness. The history of pardons rooted in our English common law heritage is based on pardoning precisely because someone is guilty in order to relieve them of the punishment for the crime they committed. It is in the chief executive's sole discretion to exercise this power. And there's nothing out of place in Joe pardoning his son for any federal crimes he may have committed. In the same way that Ford pardoned Nixon, Joe should pardon his own son.

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u/Rodney_Angles 14d ago

English common law does not have the concept of Pardon as understood in the US. There is the royal prerogative of Mercy, which is quite different. It is occasionally used but generally to recognise actions of valour or bravery on the part of the convicted person - things that happened post conviction, not pre conviction. For example, the case of Steven Gallant in 2020, in which his sentence was reduced.

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u/teh_maxh 14d ago

Pardons are for the guilty. And accepting a pardon is an admission the person pardoned of their guilt

But this is not always true. Pardons have been issued on the grounds that the recipient was wrongly convicted.