4 ms·
As a third-party voter I really don't want to get into a discussion about the major candidates. But as a hacker I am interested in how the political system ope
by DanielBMarkham 10y ago
As a third-party voter I really don't want to get into a discussion about the major candidates.
But as a hacker I am interested in how the political system operates. So let's speculate that a candidate is elected to office and then is indicted on a felony. What happens? Obviously anybody can be elected president, so there's no legal problem. But Congress also is charged with certifying electors. Would they certify electors for a candidate that had legal issues? If they did, the candidate could just pardon themselves once in office.
It brings up some weird issues.
- MaxfordAndSons 10y agoInteresting question regarding certifying electors. I sure don't know. Wouldn't be surprised if Trump supporting Representatives tries to hold up that process though, were HRC to be found guilty between winning and the certification. I can't imagine the timeline of a trial would allow that to happen though. Regarding the self-pardoning, as discussed elsewhere, it wouldn't really matter, she could still be impeached. Impeachment is extra-judicial.
- DanielBMarkham 10y agoI believe what we're discovering is that once a major party picks you, you really can't be tried for any crime. You could be charged. If you lost the election you could be tried. But I'm not seeing how the state could effectively conduct a criminal court case of a major candidate. This leads me to believe that Congress really has to decide. Beats me whether they should decide before or after the person is sworn in. (Of course this is just speculating about a generic case.)