--- title: Edward Snowden Pardon: White House Responds to Petition description: “He should come home to the United States, and be judged by a jury of his peers -- not hide behind the cover of an authoritarian regime." canonical: https://time.com/3974713/white-house-edward-snowden-petition/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-28T14:42:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:23.731Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Responds to Petition Calling for Edward Snowden Pardon og:description: The two year old petition asked Obama to pardon the former NSA contractor og:url: https://time.com/3974713/white-house-edward-snowden-petition/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte58149c9fbd462ba/69885cc80a4a2230ec9c5584/ap_910445753616.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2716 og:image:height: 1528 og:image:alt: Edward Snowden og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Responds to Petition Calling for Edward Snowden Pardon twitter:description: The two year old petition asked Obama to pardon the former NSA contractor twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte58149c9fbd462ba/69885cc80a4a2230ec9c5584/ap_910445753616.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Responds to Petition Urging Obama to Pardon Edward Snowden > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Snowden, Manning and the New Generation of Hacktivists [Watch (HLS stream): Snowden, Manning and the New Generation of Hacktivists](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lx3s0VfJ.m3u8) (2:48)  _Published 2013-06-13. TIME White House correspondent, Michael Scherer delves into the motivation behind Snowden, Manning and a generation of hacktivists._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jul 28, 2015 2:42 PM UTC  This file photo image made from video released by WikiLeaks on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, shows former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden smiles during a presentation ceremony for the Sam Adams Award in Moscow, Russia. This file photo image made from video released by WikiLeaks on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, shows former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden smiles during a presentation ceremony for the Sam Adams Award in Moscow, Russia. Uncredited—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jul 28, 2015 2:42 PM UTC The White House responded to a petition calling for President Obama to pardon Edward Snowden on Tuesday by calling for the former National Security Agency contractor to “come home to the United States, and be judged by a jury of his peers.” Snowden, who released classified government documents detailing the widespread surveillance activities of the U.S. intelligence agencies, fled to Russia soon after the documents were released. The White House commissioned Lisa Monaco, the president’s advisor on homeland security and counterterrorism, to pen the official response, which was posted to the White House’s [We the People website](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/edward-snowden). “If he felt his actions were consistent with civil disobedience, then he should do what those who have taken issue with their own government do: Challenge it, speak out, engage in a constructive act of protest, and — importantly — accept the consequences of his actions,” Monaco [writes](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/edward-snowden). “He should come home to the United States, and be judged by a jury of his peers — not hide behind the cover of an authoritarian regime. Right now, he’s running away from the consequences of his actions.” Snowden’s Russian attorney [said in March](http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/edward-snowden-wants-to-return-us-115697.html) that the whistleblower would be willing to return to the United States if he was “given a guarantee of a legal and impartial trial.” A petition to have Snowden pardoned was launched in 2013 and gained a total of [167,954 signatures](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-snowden)—well over the 100,000 required to warrant an official response from the White House. “Edward Snowden is a national hero and should be immediately issued a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs,” the petition [reads](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-snowden). The White House responded to the petition on Tuesday as a part of a wider effort to clear the backlog of petitions awaiting response on We the People and [alter the way the White House responds](https://medium.com/@Goldman44/how-we-re-changing-the-way-we-respond-to-petitions-74ed0ffd1d77). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3974713/white-house-edward-snowden-petition/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3974713/white-house-edward-snowden-petition/"},"headline":"White House Responds to Petition Urging Obama to Pardon Edward Snowden","datePublished":"2015-07-28T14:42:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:23.731Z","description":"“He should come home to the United States, and be judged by a jury of his peers\"","url":"https://time.com/3974713/white-house-edward-snowden-petition/","keywords":["White House","russia","Barack Obama","Edward Snowden","Snowden"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte58149c9fbd462ba/69885cc80a4a2230ec9c5584/ap_910445753616.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte58149c9fbd462ba/69885cc80a4a2230ec9c5584/ap_910445753616.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Edward Snowden","caption":"Edward Snowden","creditText":"Uncredited—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3974713/white-house-edward-snowden-petition/","name":"White House Responds to Petition Urging Obama to Pardon Edward Snowden"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Snowden, Manning and the New Generation of Hacktivists","description":"TIME White House correspondent, Michael Scherer delves into the motivation behind Snowden, Manning and a generation of hacktivists.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lx3s0VfJ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-06-13T12:29:47.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lx3s0VfJ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3974713/white-house-edward-snowden-petition/","duration":"PT2M48S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3974713/white-house-edward-snowden-petition/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```