SocraticGadfly: What? Not even a show trial?

November 13, 2008

What? Not even a show trial?

Fifty bucks says any Obama Administration “truth and reconciliation team” won’t go too far down the road of truth in finding out just how much BushCo criminality there was and is.

Issue No. 1, of course, is Bush pardons. How many people would he pardon, if he does?
“The classic pardon is an identifiable individual; here you are talking about potentially thousands of people involved in illegal activities,” explained Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington Law School. A blanket pardon of this variety, Turley said, “would allow a president to engage in massive illegality and generally pardon the world for any involvement in unlawful activity.”

But, it’s legally doable without identifying people by name. As the story notes, Carter pardoned all alleged draft dodgers, and Andrew Johnson pardoned all Confederate soldiers.

Issue No. 2 – would pardoned people cooperate with a truth and reconciliation commission?

Hell, no. The presidential pardon only covers criminal actions; if, after being pardoned, they talked about anything, the tidal wave of lawsuits would come.

Unless, of course, “FISA 45 percenter” President Obama pushed for these folks to get retroactive civil immunity by law.

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