Government

DOJ Looking For A New 'Pardon Attorney' For Totally Innocent Reasons, Y'all

That said, this isn't the best timing.

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Paul Manafort (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Sometimes in life, it’s important to think about optics. The Department of Justice keeps a number of attorneys on staff to review the many, many requests for pardons that go along with maintaining the highest per capita prison population in the world. These attorneys sift through the requests and select the deserving few that trickle up to the Oval Office where the president ignores them entirely and just pardons Sheriff Joe, or Dinesh D’Souza, or anyone a fellow celebrity talks to him about.

The point is a “pardon attorney” at the DOJ isn’t someone brought on to help Trump figure out how he can pardon himself and his kids when Mount Criminality starts to topple, but a functionary charged with identifying and investigating hard-luck cases of wrongful conviction, malicious prosecution, or borderline cases that the United States as a civilized nation should just let go.

But when the Department decides to post its job opening for a “Deputy Pardon Attorney” two days after Michael Cohen pleads guilty and Paul Manafort gets convicted on multiple counts in his first trial, it looks a bit suspicious. It’s not even plausible to believe the DOJ decided to staff up in the expectation of more political get-out-of-jail-free cards because Trump’s already shown he doesn’t really care what Justice tells him before issuing a pardon.

Still, if anyone is interested the job pays between $134,789 and $164,200, which isn’t bad for a job that consists mostly of saying, “LOL, no” while watching your bosses grant clemency willy-nilly. If you’re interested in applying, please note:

Applicants must possess the following:

  1. a J.D. degree
  2. be an active member of the bar (any jurisdiction)
  3. have at least 1 year of supervisory experience
  4. have a minimum of 5 years post-J.D. experience, and
  5. have experience with federal criminal practice and sentencing law

That makes these job requirements only slightly less demanding than the administration asks of its circuit court nominees.

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HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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