By Kenya J.H. Smith*
This Article begins with a focused survey of the gubernatorial pardon power provided in the four most populous American states: California, Texas, Florida, and New York. This Article then continues by discussing the theoretical bases supporting applicability of the gubernatorial pardon power to corporations and other juridical persons, focusing on the acknowledged and generally accepted concept of criminal culpability, the at least tacit acknowledgement of the corporate pardon potential embedded in certain state laws, and the analogous acceptance of the posthumous pardon—removing the formerly sacrosanct acceptance requirement imposed on the party receiving the pardon. This Article then analyzes the potential impact and ripple effects of applying the gubernatorial pardon power to corporate criminal culpability and concludes by highlighting certain prophylactic mechanisms that might dissuade a state’s chief executive from the temptation to utilize the pardon power to benefit a corporation in which the executive might have an economic interest.