Dueling Deans

Duels were once decided with lethal weapons. These deal with facts, and rule of law of our US Constitution.

On one side, we have esteemed educator, litigator, and legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky who serves as Dean of Berkeley Law and was the founding dean of UC Irvine School of Law, a position he’s held for the past nine years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Chemerinsky

On the opposing side, we have former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is a high-ranking Hispanic American in executive government and serves as Dean of Belmont University Law School in Tennessee.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Gonzales

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky says Trump’s Terrible Pardon of convicted Sherriff Joe Arpaio violates basic tenets of the separation of powers. https://soundcloud.com/thenationmagazine/erwin-chemerinsky-why-trumps-p… He reported said https://www.thenation.com/article/erwin-chemerinsky-trumps-terrible-par…

However, Dean Gonzales told CITY IMAGES that with all due respect to Dean Chemerinsky, while he does not think President Bush would have granted a pardon here, there is no violation of separation of powers. In this case, the pardon came after the conviction. The president did not interfere in the work or functions of the court.

The pardon related to the conviction in a court of an offense against the United States. Gonzales went on to say "As you know the Constitution does not qualify the President’s pardon powers. A pardon is an act of grace by the sovereign that is virtually absolute. As the Dean indicated the President had the legal authority to do what he did. However, while I cannot speak for President Bush, I think it unlikely that President Bush would have granted a pardon, but he might have commuted the sentence so that an old man would not have to spend perhaps the remaining years of his life behind bars. President Bush believed that public officials should be held to a higher standard, which is why I believe he did not fully pardon White House aide Scooter Libby but instead commuted his sentence. In this case, President Trump might have been better off commuting Sheriff Joe’s sentence instead of granting him a full pardon."

CITY IMAGES repeatedly reached out to Dean Chemerinsky along with Berkeley officials and allowed ample opportunity to respond to Dean Gonzales comment, but he was not made available by our publication deadline.

What say you as either a Constitutional scholar, a legal expert, an interested citizen, or an avid news hound?
Would you pardon this convict, would you have commute his sentence, perhaps or neither? You decide and opine below.