As reported in the Sunday Star Bulletin editorial section, the State Senate has passed a bill that would include the Judiciary in the process of reviewing applications for pardons. This bill will now be going before the House.
Is this appropriate? Where the Constitution gives this power to the executive branch, should - or, constitutionally, can - another branch get involved? I don't think so.
You can find the editorial at
http://starbulletin.com/2008/03/09/editorial/editorial02.html
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3 comments:
It seems like the senate is trying to help their Judiciary buddies meddle in the Governor's business. I think they should leave this constitutional right alone.
The Senate aka Democratic Party is still showing their lack of leadership and vision. They only focus on the Governor being a Republican. Turn around and they continue to work towards limiting the Governor's executive power. What will they do with all this limitation when one of their own say-Abercrombie becomes Governor? This is a separation of powers but here in Hawaii the "powers" want it all they don't share or play well with someone who has a different opinion.
What's also interesting is that in the last Senate committee, JDLm there was only one member of the public speaking for the bill, and three agencies - the AG, the Governor, and the Hawaii Paorling Authority speaking against, and instead of addressing their concerns (inclkuding the crucial constitutional issue, the committee report just said:
"Your Committee finds that requiring the Governor to give a minimum of thirty days public notice prior to issuing a pardon is good public policy, as the public is given the opportunity to investigate and share its concerns.
Your Committee further finds that involvement by the Hawaii Paroling Authority and Judiciary will increase transparency and oversight in the pardon procedure."
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