[CharlesWayneCT]

Ramos and Compean are Hispanic as well as political prisoners of our Justice Department.

Political prisoners? They were charged, indicted, tried, and found guilty by a jury of their peers.

If you think the facts of the case were not appropriately presented to the jury, or the jury failed to properly take them into account, by all means have congressional hearings to review the evidence.

But this "congressional pardon" stuff just makes us look silly. There are separation of powers issues, constitutional issues. If the founding fathers had wanted the legislative body to be an arbiter of the guilt or innocence of individual criminals, they would have given them that power.

but the constitution explicitly gives that power to the judicial system as judge of who has violated the common laws, and of the executive in deciding who to charge for crimes, and for pardoning those who are deemed to have been unfairly treated.

When conservatives abuse the system like this, it makes our arguments for strict constitutional fealty look politically motivated.

[Jeff Head]

I think the focus of the congressional effort is to give a sense of congress so that the President, who does have the Constitutional power, will pardon these men.

Clearly, the congress cannot pardon them themselves.

I'd like to read the wording of the HR...I bet it does not try to pardon them itself, but probably urges the President to do so.

[AuntB]

Beats hell out of doing NOTHING!