Governor Barbour's Wicked Pardons

The nation is abuzz about the two hundred pardons that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour issued the last week he was in office. He pardoned several murderers and a host of lesser criminals. The victims of these crimes are outraged that Barbour would grant pardons on such a large scale.

Without addressing the merit of granting pardons to hardened criminals, the issue of whether the Governor had the legal authority to grant many of them is paramount. Our State Constitution bars the Governor from pardoning anybody before a 30 day notice is run in the newspaper. Almost none of the pardons granted met that requirement.

The Governor knew of this requirement, yet he willfully violated his oath of office and trampled on the Constitution, exceeding his legal authority in granting these pardons.

The shame is that no prominent Republicans or conservatives are denouncing Barbour's contempt for the supreme law of the state. Rather, they are smugly claiming that no court can correct this evil, and that the pardons are unreviewable.

Republicans and Democrats have long thumbed their noses at the law and the Constitution. Government leaders strut in their impunity to violate the law. Many examples are described, showing that our nation is fast becoming a functional tyranny.

Only when our Savior comes to reign in Jerusalem will impunity and lawlessness by the powerful and privileged be put to an end.

Barbour's pardons overturned justice in many cases. But God's pardons never set aside justice. He pardons sinners on account of Jesus' bloodshedding at Calvary. The punishment for our sins is not remitted by God's Pardon, but rather was shifted onto the Lord Jesus!