Legal News

Law Blog Pardon Post of the Day: So What About Ted Stevens?

By Ashby Jones

He has served this country for over 50 years. I think most anybody would probably say, ‘Yeah, he should be [pardoned].’ I think most anybody would say it’s fair to say that.”

The above quote is by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) about Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), and comes courtesy of Politico.

Apparently Stevens, who was convicted in October on seven counts of failing to report gifts he received from 1999 to 2006, hasn’t yet sought a pardon from President Bush, nor has he said publicly that he will seek one.

But according to Politico, some of his Republican colleagues are hoping they can push one through. For Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the case for a pardon for Stevens is relatively easy to make — just focus on the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct before and during his trial. Stevens, 85, faces up to 35 years in prison if the conviction stands. (Click here, here and here for previous LB coverage of Stevens.)

According to the story, Stevens’s Senate colleagues are keeping mostly mum about whether they’d support a pardon, but few seem to be ruling it out entirely. “I don’t have any opinion at all,” says former Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).

Part of Stevens’s problem, it seems is that he continues to proclaim his innocence — meaning that he would be asking for a pardon for something he says he didn’t do. “If you pardon someone, you’re assuming he’s guilty,” said Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii). “And he maintains his innocence.”

LBers, what do you think about this one? Is Hatch’s rationale — that he’s served his country a long time — good enough? What about Murkowski’s? Does any other rationale you can think of provide better justification for why Stevens should be exonerated?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on December 02, 2008 (boomark / email).