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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

A campaign to pardon NSA leaker Edward Snowden [arstechnica.com], launched in combination with a fawning Oliver Stone film [arstechnica.com] about him, hasn't made any headway. The request spurred the entire membership of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, 13 Republicans and 9 Democrats, to send a letter to President Barack Obama urging against a pardon [house.gov]. "He is a criminal," they stated flatly.

Obama weighed in on the matter on Friday [arstechnica.com]. During his European tour, he was interviewed by Der Spiegel—the largest newspaper in Germany, a country where Snowden is particularly popular. After discussing a wide range of issues, he was asked: Are you going to pardon Edward Snowden?

Obama replied: "I can't pardon somebody who hasn't gone before a court and presented themselves, so that's not something that I would comment on at this point."

Will the NSA's spying and Snowden's actions come to define Obama's legacy?

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