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Pardon the Mess

By Nelida Gonzalez Cutler

Bill Clinton has been out of the White House for a month, but he's still front-page news. On his last day in office, Clinton issued 141 pardons. Under the Constitution, the President has the power to grant pardons, which officially forgive people for committing crimes.

Clinton pardoned his brother Roger, who had been convicted on a drug charge. He pardoned a former Cabinet member who had been found guilty of lying to FBI agents. And he pardoned one of the nation's most-wanted criminals.

Marc Rich, 65, has spent the past 17 years living in Switzerland to avoid being put on trial in the U.S. The billionaire businessman was wanted for breaking the law by trading oil with Iran, an enemy of the U.S. at the time of the trades, and for breaking tax laws. Rich ran away and gave up his U.S. citizenship rather than face the prospect of spending years in prison.

Both Democrats and Republicans have criticized the pardon. "The pardoning of fugitives stands our criminal-justice system on its head and makes a mockery of it," says New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer.

Were Laws Broken?
Congress and the Justice Department are investigating the pardon. Last Thursday the Justice Department announced that it would begin a criminal investigation to find out whether laws had been broken when the pardon was granted. Investigators want to determine whether Rich's money somehow bought the pardon.

Denise Rich, Marc Rich's ex-wife, asked President Clinton to pardon her former husband. She is a friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton's and has given large sums of money to the Democratic Party, Mrs. Clinton's Senate campaign and Bill Clinton's presidential library. Bill Clinton insists that "any suggestion that improper factors had anything to do with the decision are absolutely false."

Rich's pardon can't be undone. But some in Congress believe it is time to examine this unchecked presidential power. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania wants a constitutional amendment to give Congress the right to overturn pardons.

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Pardoning A President

On a Sunday morning in September 1974, President Gerald Ford stunned the nation by granting his former boss, Richard M. Nixon, a "full, free and absolute pardon."

Nixon had been the President and had resigned the office just a month before in order to avoid impeachment. In 1972 workers for Nixon's re-election campaign had broken into rival headquarters at the Watergate hotel in Washington, D.C. A committee from Congress recommended that Nixon be impeached for covering up the break-in and abusing his presidential powers.

Without Ford's pardon, Nixon might have gone on trial. The investigation and resignation of Nixon had already caused a national crisis. "Only I, as President, have the constitutional power to shut and seal this book," said Ford.

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