Trump talks of pardon for Ali

Reveling in his pardon powers, President Donald Trump said Friday he’s thinking “very seriously” about pardoning the late Muhammad Ali, whose conviction already was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1971.

It’s one of “thousands” of cases the president’s team is reviewing, he told reporters as he left the White House en route to a world leaders’ summit in Canada. And Trump said he’s thinking about soliciting recommendations about other cases to consider from pro football players and other athletes who have protested racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem — a tactic Trump has fiercely denounced.

Trump said that, “instead of talk,” he’s “going to ask all of those people to recommend to me — because that’s what they’re protesting — people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system.”

“I’m going to ask them to recommend to me people that were unfairly treated, friends of theirs or people that they know about and I’m going to take a look at those applications,” he said.

Trump has been on a clemency kick of late, using his near-limitless power to pardon a growing list that includes a former White House aide and a conservative commentator.

Earlier this week, he commuted the life sentence of a woman whose cause was championed by reality television star Kim Kardashian West. Last month he granted a posthumous pardon to boxing’s first black heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson. Actor Sylvester Stallone alerted him to that case.

Now he is talking about Ali.

Born Cassius Clay, Ali changed his name after converting to Islam in the 1960s. He refused to serve in the Vietnam War because of his religious beliefs, declaring himself a conscientious objector. He was stripped of his heavyweight crown in 1967, but his legal fight ended in 1971 when the Supreme Court ruled in his favor and overturned his conviction. He regained the boxing title in 1974.

Ron Tweel, Ali’s lawyer, pointed out that Ali has no criminal record.