The real scandal of Stone's commutation isn't what you think

At trial, Stone was convicted by a jury, not of his peers — Stone lives in the swing state of Florida — but of 12 Washingtonians, presumably all Democrats, including a liberal political activist attorney who served as jury forewoman. After the trial, it came to light that she had previously protested outside a Trump-owned hotel, repeatedly called the president a racist on social media, and expressed vitriolic contempt for Roger Stone himself. The Obama-appointed judge who presided over the trial was undisturbed by these troubling revelations. At times, it seemed that she could scarcely hide her own animus for the defendant.

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So, to many people the scandal wasn’t Roger Stone’s commutation. It was his arrest, prosecution, and conviction. But even in this polarizing case, there is an opportunity for common ground whatever one’s view of Stone, Trump, the Democrats, or the media. This potential area of mutual understanding was made implicit by the first sentence of the Washington Post’s July 11 “Unforgiveable” editorial: “There are no doubt thousands of people who deserved a presidential commutation more than Roger Stone.”

That observation, obviously accurate, is a point worth rallying around — and altering.

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