THE ADMINISTRATION: The Fallout from Ford's Rush to Pardon

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lawyers and political scientists who viewed the pardoning of Nixon as an arbitrary assault, however unintended, on basic principles of justice. By a vote of 347 to 169, the California State Bar Association denounced the pardon as violating the tenet "that all persons stand equal before the law" and claimed that it threatened to "undermine" the "American system of justice." Leaders of the City Bar Association of New York charged that Ford had acted "prematurely and unwisely" and bluntly urged him to "permit the administration of justice to proceed without further hindrance."

The pardon power, exercised by the President when federal law is involved and by Governors for state offenses, is commonplace in the U.S. The Justice Department gets some 1,000 applications for pardon each year. The department normally reviews each case, consults with the attorney who prosecuted the case and the judge who sentenced the offender, then recommends approval or denial to the President.

Few Precedents. Although presidential authority to pardon a person before he is charged with a crime seems to have been established by precedent, it has rarely been exercised. Most pardons are granted after conviction or after a person has served part of a prison term. Usually they are awarded to restore full civil rights to a convict so that he may be employed in certain businesses operating under government licenses (such as bars and banks). Federal rules normally require an applicant to wait until three years after his conviction or release from prison to apply for a pardon. But in certain cases, such as those involving a public trust, the wait is usually five years. Since pretrial pardon is so rare, there are few precedents in which pardoning one member of an alleged conspiracy has affected the trial of others. Often, of course, one conspirator is granted immunity so that his testimony can be used against other defendants.

A surprising number of local judges cited the Nixon pardon as prompting them to treat offenders leniently. Los Angeles Municipal Judge Gilbert Alston ordered the release of a Viet Nam veteran who had held three hostages at riflepoint in Griffith Park during an alleged "combat flashback." Explained the judge: "If a man who almost wrecked the country can be pardoned, this defendant can be released to get proper treatment." The release was countermanded by a higher judge. County Judge Kirk Smith pardoned two traffic law violators in Grand Forks, N.D., as "an act of clemency" in response to Ford's action. Federal Judge Marvin Frankel reduced a 30-day sentence for a New York tax evader to a $1,000 fine on grounds that potential charges against Nixon involved far greater underpayments of taxes. From his federal district court bench in Chicago, Judge Hubert Will deplored the notion "that political criminals can get away with more than other criminals."

Serious Disappointment. It was obvious that Ford, by pardoning Nixon, had failed to achieve his professed desire to end "the bad dreams" of Watergate. Many Republicans who had initially supported the decision soon realized that it had revived Watergate as a political issue and could only help their Democratic foes in the November elections. They were incensed about the sudden reappearance of the issue just when they thought it had