Paging the Gropenator

The executive power of clemency frequently gets a bad rap. Remember Clinton's numerous pardons as he was on the way out of the Oval Office? But in California there is a case that screams for some executive action, courtesy of Herr Schwarzenegger. Pamela Martinez spent five years in prison - 65 days short of her sentence. She's been out for two and a half years, but the state Supreme Court has ordered her back to prison to serve the rest of her time. If she does, it's almost certain that she will lose her house, job, and every other good thing she's done to turn her life around.

This situation is one that is not really set up for the courts to handle. It calls for a remedy of grace, the kind of thing that traditionally would come from a sovereign. Being a democratic state, the best California can do is a governor. Given all that Martinez has done to turn her life around and the fact that her early release was not her fault, the governor should do whatever is in his power to commute her sentence or otherwise pardon her.