I join my voice with those of so many others who are hailing President Trump's pardon of Alice Johnson, who was serving a life sentence on drug charges.
Johnson was a nonviolent offender, and hers were not distribution charges; They were possession charges. Life sentence? She had already served 21 years; That sounds a bit much, in and of itself.
That Kim Kardashian West took up Johnson's cause, seeking to free her, speaks well of Kardashian West. She saw an injustice and had the moral rectitude to fight against it.
President Trump's pardons and threatenings of pardons had had me thinking the other direction: that maybe we should reign in a president's right to pardon. And, I still have concerns, as do others, about whether pardons are being made for political and personal reasons.
But, the pardoning of Johnson has me considering what Johnson suggested, that there are many others, like her, also deserving of clemency. Why not seek out those like Johnson, or as worthy as Johnson, and pardon them?
Our Constitution's writers were perhaps as concerned with the rights of those accused of crimes as much as they were with anything else. Amendments Four through Eight in the Bill of Rights deal with the rights of the accused. No less than 14 protections are provided in the Bill of Rights.
And, then, to boot, there is this provision allowing presidents to grant pardons. Clearly, the founding fathers cared about the rights of the accused.
Perhaps it would be good if we did see a flood of pardons from President Trump, depending on who is pardoned and all. If they are in the mold of Alice Johnson, bring them on.
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