As I type this column, I am sitting in a hotel in Austin preparing for a student to compete in one of the University Interscholastic League’s speech events: State Congress.
It is exactly what you would think. Students debate legislation which they have written. This week, qualifiers will meet in chambers to determine whether or not to pass the 16 bills and resolutions presented to them.
The items on the docket have been in their possession since early December, so there has been time for research and writing to prepare for what takes place at the state meet.
One of the pieces this year is a resolution to amend the Constitution to clarify the president’s pardon power, specifically to prevent pardons of family members as well as self-pardons. Students can choose to affirm or negate the bill.
And wouldn’t you know, plenty of material is out there this year for them to consider.
My job as an educator is to make sure that they access factual material in crafting their commentary on the legislation.
And here are some of the facts related to pardons of late (sources Britannica.com, CBS News, USA Today, NPR):
1. The president pardoned his son who was convicted of three federal charges of lying on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
2. The president commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal death-row inmates. They will now serve life in prison as opposed to being put to death. The only inmates whose sentences were not commuted and who remain on death row are three men found guilty in the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting (antisemitic hate crime), the Boston Marathon bombing (domestic terrorism), and the Charleston church shooting (racial hate crime).
3. The president-elect cannot pardon himself of the 34 felony guilty counts of falsifying business records related to paying off a porn star, as these were state (not federal) crimes.
4. The president-elect can pardon himself of racketeering charges pending in Georgia for election interference, as these are federal charges.
5. The president-elect said on the campaign trail and after elected in November that he will pardon the January 6 individuals who were charged and found guilty as well as those who pleaded guilty. The charges ranged from trespassing to assaulting peace officers (one died and over 140 injured) to seditious conspiracy.
ThenatureofthisUILcontestistoencourage research and writing skills and then to communicate persuasively both sides.
The nature of my work is making sure students use truth to develop their argumentation.
Regardless which side the students land on with their opinions, if they do so after examining the facts of the matter, we have done our job.
Facts matter. Opinions are inevitable. But sometimes it seems learning is optional. Pardon me if that seems scary.
Snyder, Texas, native Sue Jane Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher whose thought-provoking commentary appears occasionally in several West Texas newspapers, including The Texas Spur and The Caprock Courier.
