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You can pardon people before they're convicted of anything. Trump pardoned Steve Bannon for example and he has not yet been convicted (he has been charged). As

You can pardon people before they're convicted of anything. Trump pardoned Steve Bannon for example and he has not yet been convicted (he has been charged). Assange has been charged with various things by the Feds, which is what Trump would pardon. The floated theory went that Trump could plausibly pardon himself as well, for any likely future charges.

astrange 6y ago
It's questionable if you can pardon yourself or your coconspirators, and you specifically can't pardon yourself for things you were impeached for. It's not questionable if you can pardon things that haven't been charged yet. You can. The pardon power is absolute, greater than laws that define specific crimes, and doesn't require accepting guilt or whatever.
- vharuck 6y ago
  >It's not questionable if you can pardon things that haven't been charged yet. You can. For a specific example, Jimmy Carter pardoned everyone who dodged the draft for Vietnam[1]. This showed that pardons could both apply to actions which hadn't been charged and categories of people. I think one of the only limits on the pardon power is that it can only apply to past behavior. [1] https://www.justice.gov/pardon/vietnam-war-era-pardon-instructions https://www.justice.gov/pardon/vietnam-war-era-pardon-instru...
  - ghaff 6y ago
    If a president were to do something really nutty like "Everyone now has a clean slate with respect to federal crimes" I suspect the Supreme Court would find some way to invalidate it. Carter's pardon, while controversial, fell into the category of these weren't exactly serial killers and a lot of people in the country were ready to move on.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > This showed that pardons could both apply to actions which hadn't been charged and categories of people. It doesn't actually show that because the legal effect of thar pardon has never been challenged. If no one tries to charge someone subject to a pardon, or that pardon recipient never offers the pardon against the charges, nothing is resolved about the validity and effect of the pardon.
- Supermancho 6y ago
  > can't pardon yourself for things you were impeached for That's because impeachment is a political process, not a judicial proceeding. Clemency does not affect impeachment.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    That may be the rationale for the limit, but the legal reason is because the Constitution expressly limits the pardon power to exclude cases of impeachment.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > you specifically can’t pardon yourself for things you were impeached for. The pardon power applies to offenses against the US “except in cases of impeachment” (Art. II § 2 ¶ 1). This uncontroversially means a pardon cannot affect the process of impeachment in the House and trial on charges of impeachment in the Senate. It is disputed whether it also somehow prevents pardons for criminal charges relating to the same act for which the recipient was impeached. The issue has never come up in a nontheoretical sense, so an authoritative resolution hasn’t been handed down.
thinkingemote 6y ago
Thanks!
libria 6y ago
> You can pardon people before they're convicted of anything. Ford pardoning Nixon is the usual example.

astrange 6y ago

It's questionable if you can pardon yourself or your coconspirators, and you specifically can't pardon yourself for things you were impeached for. It's not questionable if you can pardon things that haven't been charged yet. You can. The pardon power is absolute, greater than laws that define specific crimes, and doesn't require accepting guilt or whatever.

vharuck 6y ago
>It's not questionable if you can pardon things that haven't been charged yet. You can. For a specific example, Jimmy Carter pardoned everyone who dodged the draft for Vietnam[1]. This showed that pardons could both apply to actions which hadn't been charged and categories of people. I think one of the only limits on the pardon power is that it can only apply to past behavior. [1] https://www.justice.gov/pardon/vietnam-war-era-pardon-instructions https://www.justice.gov/pardon/vietnam-war-era-pardon-instru...
- ghaff 6y ago
  If a president were to do something really nutty like "Everyone now has a clean slate with respect to federal crimes" I suspect the Supreme Court would find some way to invalidate it. Carter's pardon, while controversial, fell into the category of these weren't exactly serial killers and a lot of people in the country were ready to move on.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > This showed that pardons could both apply to actions which hadn't been charged and categories of people. It doesn't actually show that because the legal effect of thar pardon has never been challenged. If no one tries to charge someone subject to a pardon, or that pardon recipient never offers the pardon against the charges, nothing is resolved about the validity and effect of the pardon.
Supermancho 6y ago
> can't pardon yourself for things you were impeached for That's because impeachment is a political process, not a judicial proceeding. Clemency does not affect impeachment.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  That may be the rationale for the limit, but the legal reason is because the Constitution expressly limits the pardon power to exclude cases of impeachment.
dragonwriter 6y ago
> you specifically can’t pardon yourself for things you were impeached for. The pardon power applies to offenses against the US “except in cases of impeachment” (Art. II § 2 ¶ 1). This uncontroversially means a pardon cannot affect the process of impeachment in the House and trial on charges of impeachment in the Senate. It is disputed whether it also somehow prevents pardons for criminal charges relating to the same act for which the recipient was impeached. The issue has never come up in a nontheoretical sense, so an authoritative resolution hasn’t been handed down.

thinkingemote 6y ago

Thanks!

libria 6y ago

> You can pardon people before they're convicted of anything. Ford pardoning Nixon is the usual example.