This year’s Thanksgiving turkey ‘pardon’ spotlights questions for Biden, Trump over clemency

In one of the remaining public acts of his presidency, Joe Biden ceremonially “pardoned.” two turkeys named Peach and Blossom Monday. The intended light tradition comes into sharp relief this year with serious questions about how Biden will use his pardon power before he leaves office and how Donald Trump will use it when he takes office.

One question for Biden is whether he will commute the sentences of federal death row inmates to life in prison, as he suggested that he would during his 2020 campaign. If he declines to do so, it will help streamline a continuation of the executions started by the Trump administration in its first term.

Beyond death row, Jan. 6 looms large for defendants charged in the Capitol attack as well as for Trump himself.

The president-elect has promised clemency for the defendants on Jan. 6, and that prospect has already prompted judges to delay trials so as not to waste time if the cases ultimately go away. The potential for these sweeping “blanket” pardons across the board prompted one of those judges (a Trump appointee) to say it would be “beyond frustrating and disappointing.”

But a judge’s feelings have nothing to do with it. The power of pardon rests exclusively with the president, as per the constitution says clearly “shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States.” As they say, choices have consequences.

These consequences are stark for one criminal defendant in particular: the president-elect. His political victory ensured that his two federal cases would go away one way or another. Special counsel Jack Smith is due to update the courts on December 2nd with how he wants to proceed (or not) in these cases. If they’re still around on Inauguration Day, Trump’s new Justice Department could withdraw them, and the DOJ’s policy against indicting and prosecuting sitting presidents is likely to give them pause either way.

So Trump probably doesn’t need to attempt a legally untested pardon to get rid of his federal cases. But whether he tries to do so remains to be seen. (Presidents cannot pardon state cases, and it is unclear what will happen to his prosecutions in New York and Georgia.)

And while Trump has said he would pardon Jan. 6, Biden charged have said he will not pardon his son Hunter who is awaiting sentencing. The two situations are different, in part because Biden does not face criminal charges from the same events that led to Hunter’s indictment as Trump does in the federal election interference case. But Trump’s and Biden’s different approaches to the scenarios where they are personally connected could be said to illustrate their grace approaches more broadly. (ONE The Washington Post opinion piece argues (that Biden would have to pardon Trump, which seems unlikely to happen for several reasons, including because Trump’s federal cases are basically gone already.)

In the end, whatever you like Turkey pardon traditionit reminds us that there are important open questions of grace in real cases.

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