Should a president be convicted of a crime could he pardon himself?
This must have been asked and answered in the Nixon years.
It was asked, and the opinion at the time was that Nixon could pardon himself, but the validity of such a pardon has never been considered in a court of law.
Keep in mind that a presidential pardon would only preclude a criminal prosecution in court; it would have no effect on Congress’s ability to impeach & remove the President from office. Also I think the political fallout from a sitting President pardoning himself would be so severe it might result in a constitutional amended being passed preventing it from ever happening again (say give Congress the power to override pardons by a 2/3rds majority in each house within 30-60 days of the pardon being issued or the amendment being ratified).
True, it wouldn’t affect the impeachment process, but my recollection from The Final Days is that one of the options Nixon considered was to pardon himself and then immediately resign. White House counsel advised him that option was constitutionally permissible.
The president can only pardon federal crimes, correct? That would leave any state crimes fair game.
Had Hillary won the election, could she have immediately given herself a pre-emptive general pardon to obviate residual problems?
Sure. Such an action would be politically disastrous, but I don’t think it would be illegal.
It would look pretty bad for a President to pardon himself & stay in office. But there are ways.
[ul]
[li]For example, Nixon fled Washington with the hounds of Impeachment baying at his heels. So his stooge Vice President Ford pardoned him. (That’s the VP put in place after Agnew resigned in disgrace.) [/li]
[li]Bush the Smarter pardoned Weinberger & others in the Iran/Contra affair. If their trials had proceeded, he might well have been named. So he was pardoning himself in advance. Really neat![/li]
[li]If Trump gets out of hand & angers Congress, some ethical matters could come up. Perhaps involving his kids’ running his business while wielding government power. (Shocking news!) So he retires to Trump Tower & President Pence pardons him.[/li][/ul]
Adventures in Republican Ethics!
Not “immediately.” She’d have to wait until Jan. 20.
Previous threads on the perennial self-pardon question: