The power to pardon is rooted in the notion of a merciful king (seventh-century King Ine of Wessex, to be precise), an all-powerful being whose benevolence and power outweighed any other legal entity. The United States is not supposed to have a king, and the person in charge right now is certainly not benevolent.

While the pardon power has always been ripe for abuse and political perversion, public outrage kept it in check. In the weeks after President Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon, his approval ratings dropped 20 points. But such days have passed.

When someone with President Donald Trump’s character — a man who openly scorns the justice system and promises punishment for his political enemies — has the power of the pardon, it puts our nation, and its individual citizens, at great risk. Trump began his presidency with a blanket pardon of the 1,500 people charged with crimes of all sorts — including violent criminal assault — putting dangerous, lawless people, including leaders of hate groups, back out on the street. Recently, he pardoned TV reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted of an enormous tax fraud scheme, not because there was any question of their guilt, but because their daughter is a rabid supporter of the president. He is now weighing a pardon for those charged and convicted in a 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The message is clear: If you are loyal and/or rich enough, you need not fear the law.

The presidential pardon was always unfair. Now it makes a complete mockery of our justice system. It must be abolished.