A post-inauguration self-pardon
At the same time, a newly inaugurated Trump might dispense with the complications of the 25th Amendment and instead just issue a pardon to himself for his federal crimes.
This would be quite a risky strategy, from a legal point of view. There are very good reasons for thinking that a self-pardon wouldn’t be constitutionally valid.
The director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons might presumably be persuaded to take the president’s word for the validity of his self-pardon and oversee his release.
Most likely, he would need a pliant attorney general and an Office of Legal Counsel in place to provide legal cover, which would also necessitate waiting until such officers could be further appointed.
The validity of self-pardon would most likely be litigated. Without a doubt, Trump would be able to wait out the litigation from the White House rather than from jail. But with such a new and harsh constitutional question, it is not certain exactly how the courts would fix such a case.
Ultimately, the question would have to be fixed by the Supreme Court. If Trump issued a self-pardon during his term of office, it seems completely plausible that the justices might have ruled it out of bounds.
As a matter of fact, Trump would back the Court into a rather difficult corner, especially if he launched his second term of office with a self-pardon.
In such a case, the justices would then understand that declaring the pardon invalid would further create an immediate constitutional crisis over whether the president would voluntarily return to prison or not.
Given these high stakes, a majority of the justices could be willing to let aside their own doubts and uphold Trump’s self-pardon.
13 Responses
he needs to be in prison
Do you believe the Biden Crime Family shouldn’t go to prison too?
I hope you believe the Biden Crime Family should go to prison too? Biden doesn’t believe he can win fairly, so he uses democrat judges and prosecutors to help him win the election. That is really sad.
Wrong.
Trump violated no law. Presidents are immune to all classified doc laws, and can give permanent copies of any classified docs to anyone, including himself. The NY law Bragg used is to prevent scammers from adding false profit entries to books, and hush money NDA purchases are “legal expenses” for a celebrity. Jan 6 was protected political expression. There can be no such thing as a fraudulent elector since the parties pick them before the election, and they act in public sessions of the state legislature.
you must be Democrate. What a shame that you cannot be neutral. That really comes through with you article? It also seems you are very angry. It shows.
What is most illegal is trying to prevent an election with bogus charges against a candidate. I have NEVER seen anything as illegal as that in the whole history of the country.
Then you weren’t listening closely. The 2020 election WAS stolen with drop boxes and phony mail in ballots and the Democrat party used the Covid 19 pandemic as a cover for it….I am sorry you can’t see this. The Democrats have said out loud ” Don’t let a tragedy go to waste” (Hillary Clinton) ” We will do anything to stop Trump” (Nancy Pelosi)…. Now just take a look at all of the phony indictments against the man (Merrick Garland) and all he wants to do is make America Great Again. WHO ARE THE REAL ENEMY HERE?
This is getting SO old!
We all watched Preston Trump on January 6th give a peaceful and impressive speech
to the thousands of people who thought
the election was stolen from him. He should not be held responsible for what happened afterwards. When you watch the videos, you see the Capitol Police welcoming the people into the building. Why didn’t Pelosi bring
In the National Guard when she knew the
crowd was expected to be huge? Too many unanswered questions have to be investigated so we can, hopefully, learn
the truth about January 6th. Hopefully, when President Trump is our 47th president, we shall finally know the truth!
This Jack Smith is like a dog after a bone! Will he ever give up? His charges against President Trump are so bogus! It is hard to believe a lawyer would spend so much
time, effort and money on a case that will,
hopefull, fizzle out when President Trump
is elected our 47th President!
Trump when elected can turn the table on this ass hole and dis bar him from ever practicing law again anywhere period.
Gaurented Civil War… Take that to the bank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think I’d have voted for Debs for that reason-and his being a political prisoner due to the vindictive Wilson.