Pardon Season, And A Case Before Biden w/ Shannon Lynch

This Day in Esoteric Political History

Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia

History

4.6 • 982 Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It's January 7th. Today, we take a look at the history of presidential pardons, which often take place at the end of an outgoing president's term. Joe Biden is expected to -- and is being pressured to -- grant a number of pardons over the next few weeks.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by Shannon Lynch of the New America Foundation to look at the history of pardons, why they are often used for what seems like self-dealing, and how they can occasionally be used to right wrongs in the justice system.

Shannon recently reported on a case in which 8 young men were incorrectly imprisoned for a murder in Washington, DC. Now, the living six men are seeking a pardon.

Listen to "The Alley: DC's 8th And H Case" now.

Sign a petition to support the pardon appeal here.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.
0:07.3	My name is Jody Avergan.
0:10.1	Well, we're not focusing in on one event today so much as a season.
0:14.0	January of the fourth year of an outgoing president's term, the final weeks of the so-called
0:19.1	lame duck presidency.
0:20.1	It is also known as
0:21.9	pardoning season. At least that's what we're calling it. You're no doubt familiar with the rush of
0:26.8	pardons in the final weeks of an administration. You get these press releases announcing that the
0:30.8	criminal sentences have been overturned or reduced for all sorts of people. We'll get into the
0:35.6	difference between a pardon and a commutation,
0:43.0	but the gist of it is that the president has the constitutional power to say you are off the hook.
0:46.0	We've touched on a few pardons over the years on this show.
0:49.7	George Washington, pardoned the folks who took part in the so-called Whiskey Rebellion.
0:55.4	Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, pardoned people who had evaded the Vietnam War draft.
1:00.2	Sometimes these are used for righteous reasons to overturn miscarriages of justice,
1:06.5	and a lot of times it seems like there's this last chance for a president to, for lack of a better term, do some favors.
1:12.2	So let's talk about presidential pardons since we are about to enter Joe Biden pardon season.
1:13.6	We kind of already have started it.
1:14.8	And we'll do some history.
1:19.1	And then we will hear about a particular case that is the subject of a podcast series in which the people at the heart of it are seeking a pardon from Biden sometime between now
1:23.9	and when he leaves office on January 20th.
1:27.2	So first, here to discuss, as always, Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson
	...

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