Of mercy and grievance
Presidential acts of forgiveness in America seldom rattle confidence in the integrity of the judicial system or the inviolability of the rule of law. That is what makes this week different.
Just before leaving office Monday, President Joe Biden commuted the sentence of an Indigenous activist convicted in 1977 of killing two federal law enforcement agents. A few hours later, newly sworn-in President Donald Trump pardoned almost everyone – more than 1,500 people – convicted for participating in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He further ordered the Department of Justice to suspend all ongoing prosecutions related to the event.
The clemencies drew sharp criticism from members of Congress from both parties, police unions, and the FBI. Yet two important points bear noting. First, no crimes were expunged. Mr. Trump’s pardons apply to “individuals convicted,” meaning each person’s criminal record stands – notably, acts of violence against police.
Mr. Biden, meanwhile, allowed Leonard Peltier, of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, after nearly half a century in prison, to serve the remainder of two life sentences under house arrest. His convictions stand.
Second, at a time when many people in the United States and other countries see violence as an acceptable expression of political grievance, clemency – or mercy – can coax the higher aims of justice through contrition and reconciliation.
The newly published 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual measure, found rising levels of public anger and distrust in government in 17 of 28 countries studied. The survey found 23% of people approve of threatening violence or committing violence to drive change. The solution for this global rise in political grievance involves a “straightforward but often challenging first step: listening,” wrote Kirsty Graham, Edelman’s U.S. CEO.
During nearly four years of Jan. 6 trials, many defendants expressed regret for participating in the Capitol riot. That may be one reason judges tended toward handing down lighter sentences than prosecutors sought. Remorse is hard to measure. But as U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan told one Jan. 6 defendant, it requires reflection and reform. “I can’t look into your heart or your mind,” she told a defendant at a 2021 sentencing hearing. “The way you conduct your life after this case is going to speak volumes about whether you are truly remorseful.”
Writing on the virtues of presidential clemency in the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton observed that “In seasons of insurrection or rebellion, there are often critical moments, when a welltimed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquillity of the commonwealth.”
The pardons this week may be one of those moments. Pamela Hemphill, a Jan. 6 defendant from Idaho, rejected Mr. Trump’s gesture. “We were wrong that day,” she told the BBC. “I pleaded guilty because I was guilty, and accepting a pardon also would serve to contribute to ... [a] false narrative” that the 2020 election was stolen.
Another defendant expressed a chastened sense of gratitude. “I feel like a fool because I walked into something unexpected,” Rachel Powell told a CBS News affiliate upon her release from prison Tuesday. “That doesn’t excuse my behavior that day, but I can’t go back. I can only go forward. Let’s go forward as a country and heal.”
