The Gauhati High Court has ordered compensation of Rs 20 lakh each to the families of five student leaders who died during an army operation in 1994 in Assam.
(AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
Four of the pardons extended by President Trump a couple of days ago were more important than the others. The headlines went to George Papadopoulos and one other man who had been caught up in the quasi-legal coup attempt perpetrated on the nation using the pliable and not terribly cognizant Robert Mueller (read In Surprise Move, President Trump Pardons George Papadopoulos, Among Others). However, the real injustice involved four young veterans who had hired on with the private military contractor (PMC) Blackwater USA.
On September 16, 2007, Blackwater dispatched an armed convoy in response to a car bomb exploding near a meeting being held by US and Iraqi officials. The convoy had to traverse a highly trafficked area in Baghdad called Nisour Square.
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How Donald Trump has tested ethical limits of presidential pardons
President Donald Trump has issued fewer pardons than any president in modern history – and many of them are for conservative political allies who have run afoul of the law, says UC Berkeley historian and legal scholar Daniel Farber. (Flickr photo by Gage Skidmore licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)
The power to grant clemency to people accused or convicted of crimes is one of the broadest powers granted to a president under the U.S. Constitution. A president can grant a pardon to override a failure of the justice system, or in the spirit of mercy. But pardons also can stray into ethically gray areas.