NC should amend the governor’s power to commute death sentences | Opinion

Joe Biden’s commutations of 37 death sentences because of his personal disapproval of capital punishment is an abuse of the clemency power. To prevent such abuses by a North Carolina governor, we might consider the limitations on executive power as those under the California constitution.

The California governor can only pardon or commute a sentence of a prisoner who has been twice convicted of a felony with the approval of a majority of the state Supreme Court. That court reviews clemency requests under an abuse of discretion standard. This would be a good model for a North Carolina constitutional amendment.

Joseph Gebara, Mint Hill

We’ll miss you, Jimmy

We interviewed former President Jimmy Carter in his Atlanta office in 2007 for a magazine story on the 25th anniversary of the Carter Center, an organization that has spearheaded humanitarian and peacemaking projects worldwide. We discussed various issues, ranging from peace prospects in the Middle East to the urgent need to reform the U.S. electoral system.

Carter’s achievements, though never given full due, were remarkable. Seventy percent of his domestic legislation was passed. His foreign policy successes included normalizing diplomatic and trade relations with China, passing the Panama Canal Treaty, and leading the groundbreaking Camp David Peace Accord between Israel and Egypt, which, in part, earned him a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

When we asked what troubled him most, Carter responded, “seeing our democracy subverted by money.” His concern has proven to be well-founded. We’ll miss you, Jimmy.

Charles and Mary Love, Charlotte

Politics

While many political observers see opposing factions coming close together in voting preferences, they fail to recognize the possibility that the vote is merely a chance for the other team to have a chance at bat.

Tom Bowers, Charlotte

Remembering Carter

As the former director of the Johnston County Habitat for Humanity, it was my good fortune to have a connection to our former president, Jimmy Carter. In contrast to our president elect, Donald Trump, Carter was a man of deep religious faith and a man whose entire life reflected love for his country and his God.

Due to my connections in Cuba, Carter agreed in a telephone conversation to write a letter to Cuba’s then-president, Fidel Castro, on behalf of the Johnston County Habitat for Humanity, to work with a Cuban Baptist church in constructing a home in the city of Matanzas, Cuba. I have carefully preserved a copy of that historic letter.

Rest in Peace, Mr. President. I cannot even begin to imagine having a conversation with Trump as I had with Carter and having Trump willing to facilitate an effort for Habitat to enter Cuba to assist Cuban families having a decent place to live.

Edward Walsh, Princeton

Israeli-Palestinian class

Thank you for Korie Dean’s Dec. 26 story about UNC Chapel Hill’s upcoming class on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The class will be offered by the university’s pioneering School of Civic Life and Leadership, a pro-democracy program conceived and developed by Carolina administrators and faculty over the past seven years.

As the story noted, SCiLL received heavy public attention in early 2023 after trustees endorsed the administration’s proposal for the school and urged its acceleration. Then-Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz explained to the university’s accreditor that “the work regarding the curriculum expansion for the Program for Public Discourse derives from planning, conversations, discussions with faculty leaders, and site visits dating back to February 2018.” Guskiewicz told faculty “This is not something that dropped out of the sky. I’m excited about the opportunities that I believe it presents.”

Guskiewicz’s excitement was well-justified. As the new Israeli-Palestinian course demonstrates, SCiLL is off to a terrific start under his successor, Chancellor Lee Roberts, and the faculty running the program.

Matthew Eisley, Raleigh

Griffin’s challenge

In the Dec. 18 article “Republican Griffin asks NC Supreme Court to intervene in his challenge of 60,000 ballots,” Mr. Jefferson Griffin says “At bottom, this case presents a fundamental question: who decides our election laws? Is it the people and their elected representatives, or the unelected bureaucrats sitting on the State Board of Elections?”

Given that the people elected the representatives who created the election laws and the Board of Elections and gave that board certain powers, his argument rings a little hollow.

Robert Harrison, Durham