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Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

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211–220 of 310 posts

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People in the conservative ecosystem are very much up in arms about the pardon of Hunter Biden. Like most things in MAGAland, these matters are framed in a certain way, and all nuance is eliminated. The irony of being upset about Biden while being a cheerleader for Don Jr is lost.

I think you totally proved my point. Both conservatives and liberals will almost always look at pardons by a president from their own party much differently than those by a president from the other party.

I don’t think so. I was pretty much raised in a family that was staunch Democrats and in a few cases even party officials at the local level.

I was pretty young and not really caring, but I recall them being unhappy about Clinton’s last minute pardons as they were obviously compromised. I recall conversations about the Gerald Ford pardon of Nixon that happened around the context of Scooter Libby and there was an acceptance that that was more of the grist of politics than anything.

I don’t recall any president in my memory proposing pardons in advance to people blatantly breaking the law. When I was younger, republicans were almost solemnly committed to the “rule of law”. That changed in the last 20 years. This president is very tellingly an admirer of Andrew Jackson, who was in most measurement a disaster, as is this admin.

Personally, I live my life fairly “conservatively”, but have more progressive politics with some “exceptions” for the modern sense of the word. I respect those who disagree with my point of view, but am not tolerant of disdain for the law, basic fairness and society.

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#212

Presidents shouldn't have the right to outright pardon people. It should have to go through some sort of body beforehand and be voted on like everything else.

The pardon power is one of many explicitly anti-democratic measures in the U.S. constitution, which makes sense because the government that it defines is a federal republic and not a democracy.

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#213
post #57

Thank you. Apologies in advance for nitpicking, but I think the correct spelling is "pardoned" (a quick search on Google confirms it).

It's a play on Donald Trump, after watching a Liz Oyer video linking a very plausible pardon for sale scheme, I wanted to initially build a site that showcased pardons just by Trump, but I realized that would be partisan and not as useful.

Ah, OK. Sorry I didn't get it right away!

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#215
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Little evidence that I was abused as a child too, must not have happened.

I am deeply sorry for your experience and I totally understand that it triggers something, but let's be ice cold logical for a moment. If there is no evidence of a crime, you cannot prosecute someone in a constitutional democracy. If you could you could just make up any claims and get rid of people you simply despise. Which happens in various regimes... So although it's certainly a possibility that such cases happene…

We are discussing the pardon power, an explicitly anti-democratic measure that is unilateral and unreviewable. The constitution defines a federal republic, not a democracy.

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#216
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often wondered what would happen if a president explicitly offers to pardon anybody who murders members of Congress. Would they settle on reigning in the pardon power with an amendment? We're sort of already there. A lot of the Jan 6 rioters were openly trying to murder congressmen. The fact they weren't successful isn't super reassuring.

> were openly trying to murder congressmen Is there evidence of this? This is one of those things where I’d love to get on board with the popular view but I haven’t found evidence that anything beyond a sit in was intended and the arguments seem to be floating in air if you follow them down to their root. But I haven’t done that much research so I’d appreciate if you could share what makes you think this, thanks!

https://apnews.com/article/us-capitol-attack-14c73ee280c256a...

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#217
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ford did real damage that day.

The real embarrassment is how little effort there's been to limit/reform the pardon system since then. Pardons have valid uses, but it's wild that a single person can unilaterally pardon donators, family members, former presidents, etc, without needing so much as a simple majority confirmation vote in the House or Senate. The questionable pardons that we've seen over the last few years (and the Nixon pardon) are just…

> without needing so much as a simple majority confirmation vote in the House or Senate

This is intentional. Pardons are part of the checks and balances against the legislative branch.

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#218
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ford did real damage that day.

The real embarrassment is how little effort there's been to limit/reform the pardon system since then. Pardons have valid uses, but it's wild that a single person can unilaterally pardon donators, family members, former presidents, etc, without needing so much as a simple majority confirmation vote in the House or Senate. The questionable pardons that we've seen over the last few years (and the Nixon pardon) are just…

It’s in the Constitution. There isn’t that much anyone can do.

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#219
post #8

Are there any longer or more generic than this: > For any nonviolent offenses against the United States which they may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1 2014 through the date of this pardon ( JAN 19, 2025 ). https://pardonned.com/pardon/details/biden-family/ That’s 11+ years with no detail or description.

Correct, as he should have

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real embarrassment is how little effort there's been to limit/reform the pardon system since then. Pardons have valid uses, but it's wild that a single person can unilaterally pardon donators, family members, former presidents, etc, without needing so much as a simple majority confirmation vote in the House or Senate. The questionable pardons that we've seen over the last few years (and the Nixon pardon) are just…

It’s in the Constitution. There isn’t that much anyone can do.

The pardon power is.

Presidential immunity for, say, selling a pardon is very new.

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