White House Petition to Pardon Edward Snowden

[limpyhobbler]

http://wh.gov/liZnR

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: Pardon Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden is a national hero and should be immediately issued a a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs.

Created: Jun 09, 2013

Link---> http://wh.gov/liZnR


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This petition is clearly going to meet the 100,000 signature threshold.

He probably won't get pardoned, but the point is to send a message.

[railsback]

1. LoL. Convicting Snowden of a crime

and then demanding a pardon.

That is some kind of backwards teabaggin' logic.

[limpyhobbler]

2. This is a petition to pardon him of any

crimes he may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs

This is a petition to not charge him with a crime in this regard.

I hope that clears things up for you.

[railsback]

6. How do you pardon without conviction?

Doesn't make sense.

[limpyhobbler]

7. see post #4 thanks nt

[railsback]

8. Ok, granted that the President can offer up a (rare) pre-emptive pardon

- but for what? The petitioners seem to believe that Snowden did nothing wrong, based solely on his version. Fleeing the country doesn't help his cause, especially when the others didn't. The President would be a complete idiot to do something like this.

Anywho, thanks for the info. I didn't know the Prez had such leeway on pardons.

[limpyhobbler]

9. "for what".... for exposing the mass surveillance and abuse of secrecy authorities to the public. nt

[railsback]

10. 'Exposing' is a relative term depending on what someone deems 'exposing'.

What the NSA is doing is nothing new. Streamlining their process doesn't make this a new revelation. Snowden made some pretty bold statements of what he had access to - without providing evidence - and then skipped the country. Maybe he stole a bunch of shit, or maybe he just embellished his 'heroic' actions, as he seems to be doing. You don't know. I don't know. So why the hell would the President pardon him? Makes NO sense.

[limpyhobbler]

11. If it's not a new revelation then why did the NSA denied it until Snowden leaked it?

[railsback]

12. What did they deny?

[NV Whino]

3. I'm not sure, but I think he has to be convicted in order to be pardoned

Pardoning in advance seems to be TV crime show talk.

[limpyhobbler]

4. The President can pardon a person who has not yet been charged or convicted.

Pre-emptive Presidential Pardons
Can you be pardoned for a crime before you're ever charged?

Yep. In 1866, the Supreme Court ruled in Ex parte Garland that the pardon power "extends to every offence known to the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken, or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment." (In that case, a former Confederate senator successfully petitioned the court to uphold a pardon that prevented him from being disbarred.) Generally speaking, once an act has been committed, the president can issue a pardon at any time—regardless of whether charges have even been filed.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2008/07/preemptive_presidential_pardons.html

[NV Whino]

5. I stand corrected, but good luck with that.