In Praise of Pardons

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An unpopular opinion on this Inauguration Day: pardons are invariably good, and we need more of them.

I’m delighted that President Trump will be pardoning most (if not all) of the January 6 rioters. I’m pleased that President Biden pardoned his family members, Liz Cheney, Anthony Fauci, and countless Americans convicted of non-violent drug offenses. I’m thrilled he commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier, who had spent half a century in prison.

It was good when Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, and it was good when Jimmy Carter pardoned all those who had evaded the Vietnam-era draft. It was good when Andrew Johnson pardoned Jefferson Davis, and good when that same President Ford who pardoned Nixon also pardoned, very belatedly, Robert E. Lee.

Let me be gloriously bipartisan in saying that I’ve never seen a pardon that was undeserved, though I have seen many that were grievously delayed.

The genius of the American spirit is that we do our best to avoid show trials of our former leaders. Unlike South Korea (which seems to imprison about 80% of its former presidents), or Mexico, or Brazil, or countless other so-called democracies, we do not regard it as inevitable that an incoming administration must set to work prosecuting its predecessor. We did not have a Nuremberg after Appomattox, and a good thing too. Whatever the failures of Reconstruction, the horrors of a violent purge of ex-Confederates would have made things far bloodier. We have not had a second Civil War (so far, of course) in large part because of the generosity of the way the first one ended.

The peaceful transition of power which we saw today, with Joe Biden giving way to Donald Trump, remains the envy and marvel of the world. No other nation has done this so well and so peacefully for so long. The peace hinges, however, on this fragile willingness not to pursue political vengeance. When people in government know it is likely they’ll face prison if they ever relinquish power, history suggests and common sense indicates that they become more, not less, contemptuous of civil society. They are more likely to go to extremes, including violence and coups-d’etat — to hold on to power and postpone the inevitable reckoning.

The essence of a pardon is that it is, in some sense, extrajudicial. It is the bestowing of an unmerited grace upon those whom some rightly regard as undeserving. I understand the animal impulse to see one’s enemies suffer, but it is just that — a dark and primitive instinct. It is not noble, nor is it necessary for society to function. The great tragedy of the pardon power is that it is historically used so sparingly, which is why I rejoice that President Biden set a modern record for pardons given. With his promises to the January 6 participants, President Trump may equal or surpass that mark.

We should welcome it, and we should find it instructive for our own lives and relationships as well.