US President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon former sheriff Joe Arpaio is yet another rejection of political norms
In pardoning Arpaio, Trump bypassed 2,270 other pending applications for pardons, most of which have been waiting for years
Arpaio did not meet the Justice Department guidelines for a pardon. His conviction wasn’t five years old, he hadn’t expressed remorse and he hadn’t even applied to the Office of Pardon Attorney.
The day before, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president would follow a “thorough and standard process” in considering the pardon. That process usually requires seven layers of review and an FBI background check.
No matter. The constitutional authority to “grant pardons and reprieves for offences against the United States” is arguably the most absolute powers a president has.
This is just the most in-your-face gesture imaginable for the pardon power
He has to work with Congress to pass bills, appoint cabinet secretaries or negotiate treaties. But a pardon can be granted with the stroke of a pen – sometimes not even that – and can’t be overturned by the Congress or the courts. Once delivered, not even the president himself can take it back.