Haley Barbour’s Pardoning Frenzy Stirs Up Media Circus
Yesterday, Phil Bryant was inaugurated as the 64th governor of Mississippi. The outgoing Haley Barbour wasted no time his last day on the job, pardoning 27 convicted criminals, many of them felons. This last-minute pardoning frenzy has made both national and international news.
- Tom Freeland at the North Mississippi Commentor blog examines some of these cases in several posts, noting that Karen Irby was also granted clemency. More on the Irby case here.
- Cottonmouth also has coverage, noting that the pardons allow convicted murderers to once again carry firearms. He also raises an interesting question about whether Barbour’s pardons violated a state constitutional provision due to lack of prior notice.
- Back in 2009, Radley Balko wrote about Barbour’s “bizzare” pardon record at Slate, noting that the governor granted pardons to “murderers who just happen to do work on his house.”
Pardons have long been recognized as an executive check on the judicial system that can be used to combat excesssive sentences. Some say news of pardons by former Arkansas governor and GOP candidate Mike Huckabee hurt his chances at winning the GOP nomination. Current GOP candidate Ron Paul has said that as president he would pardon all non-violent drug offenders.
Paul’s distinction of “non-violent” serves as an important contrast to Barbour’s – nearly all of Barbour’s pardons were violent criminals. Given Barbour’s timing, he is immune from any electoral backlash. With this level of coverage, it remains to be seen whether the courts will attempt to address this overreach of executive power, possibly on constitutional grounds.
As expected, have taken to both Facebook and Twitter, to voice their disgust. On a somewhat lighter note, though, others have turned to farce:
- @lindsey_brooks posts: ”"THIS JUST IN!!! Haley Barbour’s latest pardons: Darth Vader, Count Chocula, Cruella de Vil, Skeletor, and Voldemort.”
- @thirdcup writes: ”Next time you see Haley Barbour, skip the hellos and say “I beg your pardon.” “Pardon me” will suffice as well.”
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James Robertson currently attends the University of Mississippi, where he plans to receive degrees in Political Science and English. He is the President of the Ole Miss Chapter of Young Americans for Liberty. He can be contacted at jrrobert@olemiss.edu, and on Facebook and Twitter.
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Beautiful photo. It ought to be framed in the gubernatorial mansion.
wbnero
January 11, 2012 at 10:35 am
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