President Barack Obama suggested in an interview last week that he won’t pardon Edward Snowden because the former NSA contractor “hasn’t gone before a court,” though Snowden’s advocates have disputed his reasoning, pointing to historical precedent.

“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,” Obama said in an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel and public broadcaster ARD. “I think that Mr. Snowden raised some legitimate concerns. How he did it was something that did not follow the procedures and practices of our intelligence community. If everybody took the approach that I make my own decisions about these issues, then it…

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