PD Editorial: Trump’s mixed record with pardons

President Donald Trump's newfound interest in his constitutional power to pardon has been mostly self-serving so far. If he can be steered toward a more deliberative, less impulsive process, there's hope he can put the tool to better use than many of his predecessors.

The president is reportedly pondering several dozen pardons. He first used the power last summer to pre-empt prosecution of Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio on a contempt charge related to targeting undocumented workers, drawing criticism for acting before Arpaio was sentenced. Trump drew further criticism for his recent pardon of conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza, who pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws in what he describes as a political prosecution.

The case for pardoning either man was weak, and there's little to support Trump's talk of pardoning former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (corruption) or TV personality Martha Stewart (insider trading). Those cases - as well as the recent pardon of Scooter Libby, former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff - bear the markings of political payback. All involved former FBI director James Comey, special counsel Robert Mueller or their close colleagues.

There's additional cause for concern that the president is using these pardons to signal witnesses in the Mueller probe that he will pardon them if they resist pressure to turn against the him. Trump's team has even claimed he could pardon himself. That's questionable and undoubtedly would end up before the U.S. Supreme Court if he tried.

But amid all the speculation about his motives, the president has issued or discussed pardons that are praiseworthy. He's considering a posthumous pardon of Muhammad Ali for draft evasion. It would be purely symbolic because the conviction was overturned years ago, but an appropriate gesture.

Trump recently granted a posthumous pardon to boxer Jack Johnson, who was convicted in 1913 of a crime that amounted to traveling with a white woman. He also pardoned Alice Marie Johnson, a 61-year-old woman serving a 21-year, no-parole sentence on a nonviolent drug conviction.

The latter pardon, made at the request of Kim Kardashian West, establishes a model for how Trump should proceed. While critics may quibble over a reality TV star's involvement in the pardon, the sentence was overly harsh and part of a pattern that should be addressed.

More than 3,000 offenders, mostly African-American or Hispanic, are serving excessively long sentences as the result of misguided sentencing laws that fail to separate nonviolent, first-time offenders from violent criminals. Their treatment is inhumane, and their continued incarceration is a drain on taxpayers.

The pardon process is, by nature, controversial because it extends near absolute power to a single person. Some presidents used the power sparingly. President Barrack Obama granted clemency to more individuals than any president since Harry Truman, but most involved commutations, which reduced sentences but didn't waive convictions as pardons do.

Other pardons have drawn criticism, including Gerald Ford's pre-emptive pardon of Richard Nixon for the Watergate scandal and Bill Clinton's end-of-term pardon of Marc Rich, a financier whose ex-wife donated to Clinton's presidential library.

Trump could avoid similar controversies by making better use of the Justice Department's Office of Pardon Attorney, which reviews applications for clemency. Pardons can right egregious wrongs. With guidance, Trump still has a chance to use the power wisely, for the service of real justice.

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