Sunday, February 15, 2015
Sunday Reflection: A coalition for mercy
This past Thursday, I was in Washington I was part of an event put on by Generation Opportunity, the group that put together (along with Freethink Media) this great video about my client, Weldon Angelos:
It was a fascinating evening. Two congressmen spoke: Democrat Bobby Scott, and Republican Thomas Massie, and they agreed. I served on one panel (with Weldon's sister, Lisa, and FAMM's founder and president, Julie Stewart), and the other featured representatives from the ACLU and the Heritage Foundation. It was exactly what people say is missing in Washington-- agreement across the political spectrum on an important issue, clemency.
I once wrote an article (available here) arguing that mercy is an expression of natural law within legal systems. However much we try to dispel the effects of mercy (usually in the interest of uniformity in sentencing), it comes back. Judges who are liberal and judges who are conservative both force mercy back into the system. It is like water, that will flow inexorably to the place it needs to be, eroding away over time whatever walls we might erect.
And that is good.
