Edward Snowden has made a request for Barack Obama, who is nearing the end of his final term, to pardon him for moral reasons on his multiple accounts of treason. 

Edward Snowden is a computer specialist, a former Central Intelligence Agency employee, and a former contractor for the government before he leaked the information regarding surveillance levels to the public. On September 19th, Edward Snowden released a video link in which he formally asked for a presidential pardon from President Barack Obama, for releasing highly classified documents which revealed the scale of US and British surveillance to the public in 2013.

Edward Snowden is wanted in the US for violating the Espionage Act and could face over 30 years in jail. From Russia, where he resides in exile, he said that the public is better off because of his actions and that any evaluation of what he had done would show that the people have gained from it, making his actions morally justified: “Yes, there are laws on the books that say one thing, but that is perhaps why the pardon power exists – for the exceptions, for the things that may seem unlawful in letters on a page but when we look at them morally, when we look at them ethically, when we look at the results, it seems these were necessary things, these were vital things.”

Though Obama, who was a constitutional lawyer, did argue for privacy and was against “mass surveillance,” it is unlikely he will agree to the pardon. Snowden continues to stay hopeful that he will be granted a pardon and that he will be able to return to the United States.

Edward Snowden’s campaign was given a greater support by Eric Holder, former US Attorney General, when he responded, “Snowden had performed a public service.”

Snowden’s recent call for a presidential pardon of what he believes as a morally righteous act done for the betterment of the public, has redirected the attention back to him.

Oliver Stone, the director of the movie Snowden, has said that he hopes that the movie’s representation of Edward Snowden will better the public’s opinion. While Stone has solidified his position on the pardon, the public is far more diversified.

Snowden’s release of the classified information caused mixed responses mostly because the released information only gave more information on a subject that was already assumed to have escalated to that point. The reason why his original story faded so quickly was largely because of the sheer amount of information he released. The flood of information clouded his main point and the media only used bits and pieces from of mounds of information to tell different stories of what happened based on their opinions. These opposing stories have caused a great amount of controversy and have mixed the public’s opinion. Mr. Gorr, a history teacher at AAHS, stated, “The media has the ability to dictate what we pay attention to; first, he was a traitor, then he was a hero, now he is yesterday’s news.” Snowden’s recent call for a presidential pardon has, yet again, captured the public’s interest.