Michael Benza, J.D. – Senior Instructor of Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Dear Colleagues:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has brought new attention to presidents’ power to pardon. Speculation has included that President Trump might pardon a wide range of targets of the investigation, or even himself.

The power to pardon is one of very few vested in the executive explicitly by the Constitution. In Federalist #74, Alexander Hamilton explained two purposes. First, sometimes guilt will be “unfortunate” or the penalty seem too severe, so clemency (including versions short of pardon, such as commuting sentences) can mitigate those ills. But there is also a political use: that, “in seasons of insurrection or rebellion, there are often critical moments, when a well-timed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquility of the commonwealth.”

President Washington (ironically, over Hamilton’s objections) followed this logic to tamp down the Whiskey Rebellion. Presidential clemency has since been used in numerous more “political” cases, including Brigham Young, all confederate soldiers, Eugene Debs, Richard Nixon, Vietnam war draft resisters, and former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. In some cases critics suggested that the power was misused because the president may have had a personal stake – a risk Hamilton had acknowledged. Most recently, President Obama commuted well over a thousand sentences for “non-violent” drug offenders whose sentences many considered excessive, based on misguided sentencing laws. He was criticized for not commuting more. But he also commuted sentences for Chelsea Manning and a convicted Puerto Rico liberation terrorist. What, then, are the bounds, norms, and risks of presidents’ power to pardon? Mike Benza, a leading expert on death penalty and other aspects of constitutional criminal law, joins us to discuss the issues.

All best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

About Our Guest

Michael Benza received his Bachelor of Arts (1986) and law degree (1992) from Case Western Reserve University. He also received a Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology (1988) from Pepperdine University. He was the 1992 Biskind Fellow from CWRU School of Law and spent a year working for the Legal Resources Centre, a civil and human rights law firm in South Africa. Upon returning to the States, he spent four years in the Capital Defense Unit at the Office of the Ohio Public Defender. He was assistant counsel at the Cleveland Bar Association working with the Certified Grievance Committee as well as other committees. Professor Benza teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure I, Death Penalty Issues, the Death Penalty Lab, Federal Prisoner Rights, International Perspectives on the Death Penalty, as well as coaching the International Criminal Court moot court team and he previously coached the Mock Trial team. The Student Bar Association selected Professor Benza as the Professor of the Year in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014. In 2009 Professor Benza was elected as an alumni member to the Society of Benchers.

Professor Benza continues to represent death row inmates in state courts and federal habeas proceedings. He has litigated capital cases in state trial courts, state appellate and post-conviction courts, and federal courts including arguing Smith v. Spisak, 130 S.Ct. 676 (2010), before the Supreme Court of the United States.

Where We Meet

Mather House is located next to the Thwing student center two buildings to the right of Kelvin Smith Library on Euclid Avenue. Please enter the front door to Mather House and turn right. Mather House Room 100 is at the end of the hall.

Parking Possibilities

The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level labeled as Thwing Center. Then turn to the right and walk down the pathway between the Thwing Center on the right and the new Tinkham Veale University Center on the left. The next building on your right is Mather House.

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

October 12: Caesarism: Populism and Leadership in Ancient Rome and Greece. With Timothy Wutrich, Senior Instructor in Classics, and Rachel Sternberg, Associate Professor of Classics. ***Alternate Location: Mather House Room 100, 11201 Euclid Ave.***

October 19: The Context of Coverage: Ohio’s Medicaid Expansion. With Loren C. Anthes, Public Policy Fellow and Director, Medicaid Policy Center, Center for Community Solutions.

October 26: The Impact of Conflict on Health: A Family Physician’s Report from Bosnia and Afghanistan. With Geoff Hodgetts MD, Professor, Queens University School of Medicine.

November 2: Biennial Pre-Election Forecast Discussion. With Joseph White, Luxenberg Professor of Public Policy, and Andrew M. Lucker, Adjunct Professor of Political Science Alternate Location: Mather House Room 100, 11201 Euclid Ave.

November 9: Too Much Trust? Older Patients and Their Doctors. With Eva Kahana, Distinguished University Professor and Pierce T. and Elizabeth D. Robson Professor of Humanities, Department of Sociology.

November 16: Questions and Answers About Recycling Plastics. With John Blackwell, Leonard Case Jr. Professor Emeritus, Macromolecular Science and Engineering.

November 23: Thanksgiving break.

November 30: Just How Powerful is Putin? With Stephen Crowley, Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science, Oberlin College.

December 7: Union Decline in a Populist Era: The Experience of Western Democracies. With Chris Howell, James Monroe Professor of Politics, Oberlin College.