Trump revealed this morning he’s considering a posthumous pardon for Muhammad Ali:
Pres. Trump considering additional pardons, including late boxing icon Muhammad Ali: "I'm thinking about that very seriously, and some others… but I am thinking about Muhammad Ali." https://t.co/W27wu03CG5 pic.twitter.com/AIYK1Y7Nt2
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 8, 2018
But Muhammad Ali’s lawyer has released a statement telling Trump there’s nothing to pardon:
Mohammed Ali's lawyer responds to Trump floating the idea of a pardon for the boxing legend: The US Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1971. "There is no conviction from which a pardon is needed" https://t.co/qAGNW8pcej https://t.co/ZjEZGWcZEd
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) June 8, 2018
What Trump is referring to is Ali’s conviction in 1967 after refusing military service in Vietnam. According to History.com:
“Less than two months after Ali refused to step forward at the induction center, an all-white jury took just 21 minutes to find him guilty of draft evasion on June 20, 1967. The judge made an example of the high-profile defendant by handing down the maximum penalty for the felony offense—five years in jail and a $10,000 fine. “It is too bad he went wrong. He had the makings of a national hero,” lamented Washington Post columnist Shirley Povich. The New York Athletic Commission revoked the champ’s boxing license while the World Boxing Association did what none of Ali’s professional opponents had been able to do up to that point in stripping him of his title.
Released on bail pending appeal, Ali lived for three years in exile from the ring. As public opinion began to turn against the war, however, it softened against Ali. In 1970 the New York State Supreme Court ordered his boxing license reinstated, and the following year the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction in a unanimous decision.”
So there you go.