As we near the twilight of the Clinton saga, can Slick Willie decide, at the last minute, to pardon himself against all actions he “may” have committed while in office? After all, I’m sure there may still be a few skeletons in the closet forthcoming.
Article 2, Section 2 of the Big Book sez:
“he [The Prez] shall have thepower to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”
Doesn’t say anthing about WHO he can pardon. Or if it is for charges made against him yet.
Why didnt Tricky Dick do the same before resigning?
Gerald Ford granted a full, free, and absolute pardon to Richard Nixon for any and all offenses against the United States which Nixon committed or may have committed during the period from January 20, 1969 (his assumption of the office of President) through August 9, 1974 (the day after his resignation from same).
I think what’s been established by precedent is that a pardon (should Gerald Ford’s thereof of Nixon never be challenged) can come in advance of prosecution and can be of a temporal nature.
We’ve already determined that he (or she) would not be able to pardon himself, but lets assume that he did. I am no sheep, I do not blindly follow what I do not agree with. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think the vast majority of America is that way either.
If Ford can grant that sort of pardon to Nixon, I don’t see why someone else couldn’t do it for himself. I believe that governors have pardoned themselves before (Governor Curley of Massachusetts was elected from prison, IIRC). I don’t think it matters what the public thinks, there’s really nothing they (we) can do about it.
The question about whether a president could pardon himself came up during the adoption of the Constitution. Madison, I believe, thought that any president who tried to pardon himself would most likely end up being impeached. The existence of any pardon would presuppose that the person was guilty and the pardon would be an obstruction of justice I guess. Of course, if Clinton signs the paper pardoning himself up on the podium right before the new president is inaugurated, then you might have some people ticked off. However, history would not look kindly upon him for doing something like that.
During the impeachment trial, Clinton hinted that he would not pardon himself nor would he seek one from any future president.
Personally, I don’t see the need for one as no one has yet been able to prove sufficiently that Clinton is guilty of anything worse than being untruthful. The Senate didn’t find him guilty of perjury and a criminal case against him would probably not be worth the effort.
In the last few weeks before Bush left the presidency, he pardoned several people for any crimes that they may have committed in connection with what has popularly been called the Iran-Contra Affair, during the Reagan Administration. There was some speculation that he might issue a similar pardon for himself - but he didn’t.
If Clinton pardoned himself, I bet they’d ask the Supreme Court to rule it unconstitutional. While it may not be explicitly banned, pardoning yourself clearly violates the spirit of the rule. I think SCOTUS would probably rule out a pardon for oneself. In both the Nixon and Clinton rulings they’ve limited presidential privledges, so I think they’re likely to do it again if the question comes up.
I’d bet Clinton would do it, however. History is going to remember him in an unfavorable light anyways. The only two major accomplishents he has are (1)getting impeached, and (2)getting us involved in a series of pointless little wars all over the globe, making the US the most hated nation in the world as a result. All of Clinton’s other “accomplishments,” ie the economy, events in Russia, etc were beyond his control. He may have gotten some good press from them, but history won’t remember Clinton as being a significant factor in them.
BTW: does anyone else think it likely that Clinton will try to become Secretary-General of the UN? He’s perfect for the job! For starters, he’ll get lots of press and very little responsability. Like every other S-G in recent times he’s a diehard socialist, and like the UN in general he’s completely incapable of doing even the simplest task correctly :D. This is a match made in heaven, guys.
Nixon did consider pardoning himself, as many of his advisors urged him to do, but he was convinced that the whole thing would go away if only he resigned. Ford pardoned him only when it became obvious that the prosecutors were still going after him.
A note about pardons (though it doesn’t seem to apply to Nixon or Clinton): Presidential pardons apply only to federal offenses or contempt of a federal court. The president has no power to pardon a person for violating a state law or for contempt of a state court.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines “fascism” as “a philosophy or system of government that advocates or exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with an ideology of belligerent nationalism”. I’m sure George W. Bush is “devot[ed] to the interests of a particular nation” (e.g., America), and is therefore a “nationalist”; he’s politically to the “right” (a conservative); and he is, of course, “pro-business” and is a “business leader” (oil and baseball) who has sought political leadership (governor of Texas, president of the United States). Therefore, George W. Bush is a fascist–Q.E.D., right?
By the way Slate magazine kicked this topic around back in December of '98: Can President Clinton Pardon Himself? by Bruce Gottlieb. The article evidently consulted Professor Harold Bruff of the University of Colorado Law School, Professors Evan Caminker and Daniel Hays Lowenstein of UCLA Law School, and Louis Fisher of the Congressional Research Service, but still didn’t really come up with anything very conclusive. I guess we won’t know until someone tries.
Just about Diceman’s comment that Clinton was a die hard socialist. If Clinton is America’s version of a socialist, then the US is a lot more right-wing than I had thought.
Isn’t there a socialist party in the US? The US had the first such party.
