Last week, NBC News anchor Hallie Jackson asked Vice President Kamala Harris whether she will pardon former President Donald Trump if she wins the election. Trump faces federal criminal charges in Washington arising from the 2021 Capitol riot, and in Florida, based on classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago residence.

Harris understands that some people will pressure her to pardon Trump, and that staking out a position now, days before the election, could be politically damaging. So she responded with a non-response: “I’m not going to get into those hypotheticals. I’m focused on the next 14 days.”

“But do you believe,” Jackson persisted, “that a pardon could help bring America together, could help you unify the country and move them, move on?” Harris replied, “Let me tell you what’s going to help us move on. If I get elected president of the United States.”

Whether to pardon Trump should prove to be an easy question for Harris. The answer is no, for several reasons.

First, Trump has not demonstrated that he deserves a pardon on the merits. As Chief Justice John Marshall wrote in 1833, “a pardon is an act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the execution of the laws.” It derives from the English monarch’s royal prerogative to bestow mercy on deserving subjects.

The Justice Department has criteria for pardons, although the president is not bound by them. They include a requirement that five years have passed from an individual’s release from prison or, absent a sentence, the date of conviction. The pardon........

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