Susan B. Anthony memorial refuses to accept Trump’s pardon of civil rights leader

A group honoring the life and legacy of American civil rights icon Susan B. Anthony has refused to accept President Trump’s posthumous pardon of her, arguing the effort would give unearned legitimacy to the 1873 court proceedings that found her guilty of breaking a law that prohibited women from voting.

Trump this week announced he was pardoning Anthony for the conviction, a measure the president took on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which recognized the right of women to vote.

Yet the National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House this week rejected the president’s gesture, telling the president in a press release that the memorial organization “must decline [his] offer of a pardon.”