BookPeople Presents: Kim Wehle - Pardon Power

Please welcome Kim Wehle and Lee Kovarsky to celebrate Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works — and Why!

This event is free and open to the public.

• Start time: 4:00 P.M.
• Run time: 45-60 minutes, followed by a signing line.
• Location: The second floor of BookPeople.

The author will be signing and personalizing copies of the book after the speaking portion of the event.

• To get a book signed, a copy of the event book or an item of equal value must be purchased from BookPeople.

Guidelines:

• Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

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• There will not be a live stream or recording available.

About the book:

Pardon Power will be released just weeks before the 2024 election. Against this timely backdrop, Wehle takes readers on a fascinating historical journey from British monarchs’ early uses of the pardon — when it was moored in righteous intent — to its misuse in modern times to subvert the American rule of law.

Today, more than ever, the topic of pardons carries enormous implications for democracy, as each day brings a worrying drumbeat of news coverage threatening the end of government by the people. Just this term a majority of Supreme Court justices created a cloak of criminal immunity for presidents, all but inviting crime sprees in the Oval Office. The pardon power was cited to justify this sweeping new authority.

With a compelling foreword by John W. Dean, Counsel to the President of the United States in the Nixon White House, in which he highlights his own first-hand experience with pardons, Wehle’s book pulls back the curtain for the voting public on some colorful and often overlooked moments in U.S. and ancient world history — from Pontius Pilate’s pardon of Barabbas in the New Testament to the Ancient Roman pardon power bestowed upon prisoners by Vestal Virgins. The book also covers the political fallout around the Whiskey Rebellion and the Mountain Meadows Massacre in Mormon-dominated Utah, as well as the wide range of pardon systems used by the states and across the globe, from Japan to Zambia.

At an incredibly important moment in our nation’s history, and on the verge of one of the most impactful presidential elections of our time, Wehle has written a book that sheds light on the anti-democratic power of the pardon, exposing its potential to do great harm in the hands of the wrong person.

Numerous lawyers and leading legal and political commentators have already offered praise for Wehle’s book, including Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General, Trump Administration, who states: “Wehle’s timely book illuminates a vast constitutional power likely to be debated during the 2024 presidential campaign and beyond.”

Charlie Sykes, MSNBC contributor, says: “Pardon Power is a must read for those who care about the fate of American democracy. Wehle explains why and how guardrails must be recognized around the presidential pardon power, which is increasingly making headlines, before it's too late for American democracy itself.”

As Mimi Rocah, former federal prosecutor and division chief, U.S. Attorney’s office, SDNY, states: “Pardon Power is a vital contribution in a critical time where we must look to strengthen the guardrails against corruption.”

About the author:

Kimberly Wehle (pronounced “Whale-ee”) is an expert in constitutional law and the separation of powers, with particular emphasis on presidential power and administrative agencies. She is a tenured law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she teaches Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure, Administrative law, and Federal Courts. She is also a legal contributor for ABC News and regularly writes for Politico, The Atlantic, and The Bulwark. Winner of the University of Maryland System Board of Regents Award for excellence in scholarship, she also writes and comments on the Supreme Court, election law and voting rights. She was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Washington D.C. office and Associate Independent Counsel in the Whitewater Investigation. She is author of the books, What You Need to Know about Voting—and Why, How to Read The Constitution—and Why, and How to Think Like a Lawyer—and Why: A Common-Sense Guide to Everyday Dilemmas. Her forthcoming book, Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works—and Why, is due out September 2, 2024. Kim is also the recipient of a 2024-2025 Fulbright US Scholar Award for the University of Leiden, The Netherlands.

About the moderator:

Lee Kovarsky is the Bryant Smith Chair in Law and the Co-Director of the Capital Punishment Center at the University of Texas School of Law. He specializes in criminal law and punishment, and he has litigated on behalf of people awaiting their executions for almost twenty years.

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