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White House petition updates: no pardon for Snowden

Details on 20 petitions under consideration were revealed Tuesday.

By Ed Adamczyk
The "We the People" website is the location of 20 petitions currently under consideration. Photo courtesy of the White House.
The "We the People" website is the location of 20 petitions currently under consideration. Photo courtesy of the White House.

WASHINGTON, July 28 (UPI) -- The White House announced it has simplified the petition process so the U.S. government can address popular movements and calls to action.

President Barack Obama, in a message on www.medium.com, noted the Constitution's First Amendment guarantees the right of the American people "to petition the government for a redress of grievances" without explaining the procedure. "We the People," a 2011 online petition platform, was created by the White House to simplify the process, which currently has a backlog of 20 petitions, each with at least 100,000 signatories, awaiting action.

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Updates on each petition were announced Tuesday, with many still in the process of having a decision rendered. They range from "Pardon Edward Snowden" to "Present Yogi Berra with the Presidential Medal of Freedom." The White House rejected the petition to pardon Snowden, who leaked documents about the government mass surveillance programs to journalists in 2013, despite 167,000 signatures favoring a pardon.

"Mr. Snowden's dangerous decision to steal and disclose classified information had severe consequences for the security of our country and the people who work day in and day out to protect it," said Lisa Monaco, the president's adviser on Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

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A decision on honors for Berra has not yet been reached.

The White House website offers guidelines for beginning a petition, a three-step process ending with "If a petition meets the signature threshold, it will be reviewed by the administration and we will issue a response."

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