Texas Governor pardons Daniel Perry for murdering a BLM protester

As I explain in my forthcoming book, the pardon power may have outlived its legitimate purposes

The U.S. pardon power dates back to the English monarchy and the absolute power of a king. In medieval England, there were no formal systems of justice or rules of criminal procedure. In theory, the king’s pardon showed mercy or amnesty at a time when criminal punishments were exceedingly harsh.

Under the Constitution, U.S. Presidents can pardon federal crimes, while each state has a different system of pardons for state crimes. Some states lodge the power in the governor—as in New York, which has a Democratic governor who is unlikely to pardon Donald J. Trump for his 34 felony convictions for falsification of business records. Other states lodge the pardon power in boards or committees, including Texas.

Last month, Texas Governor, Greg Abbott (R), pardoned Daniel Perry for a murder conviction in connection with a Black Lives Matter protest. Perry’s pardon wasn’t a measure of mercy or to heal tensions in the state. Instead, it seemed designed to feed racial tensions, anti-democratic sentiment, and political polarization — while simultaneously heralding the lethal gun culture that pervades modern America.

This is not what the pardon power is for. I wrote about Abbott’s cynical maneuver for The Hill.

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