Thirty-one authors have signed an open letter to President Obama, urging him to pardon Edward Snowden, the former U.S. government contractor charged with violating the Espionage Act for leaking National Security Agency documents to journalists. Writers who signed the letter include Michael Chabon, Ursula K. LeGuin, Cheryl Strayed, Neil Gaiman, Teju Cole and Joyce Carol Oates. Snowden was charged with theft of government property and Espionage Act violations in June of 2013, weeks after he fled the United States to Hong Kong and leaked NSA documents to three journalists. Those who see Snowden as a hero have started a campaign urging Obama to pardon him. In the open letter, the authors invoked Alexander Hamilton, who in the Federalist Papers described the presidential pardon privilege as a "benign prerogative."

Source: Los Angeles Times November 22, 2016 17:35 UTC