I reached out to Matt Braynard, who has been an activist for years on behalf of the Jan. 6 arrestees. I granted that some of these folks were overcharged, and I asked him for two things: Examples of the most overcharged individuals, in his opinion, and a broader defense of the blanket pardon, as opposed to individual clemencies for specific folks who were grossly mistreated.
On the second question, Braynard gave me a long reply, which came after my deadline. I reprinted the relevant parts of his explanation below.
“I would make four cases for why the broad pardons are justified: First, according to the Federalist Papers, the pardon power exists to allow a President to heal national divisions caused by times of great strife. The first recipients of broad pardons were the violent participants in the Whiskey Rebellion, who tarred and feathered tax collectors (not a…
