Logically, it doesn’t make sense, but I wonder if the more blanket/non-specific pardons Biden issues, the more SCOTUS will be emotionally motivated to strike down the lot of them as against the original intent of presidential pardon power.
I know, it is in Trump’s self interest to preserve the acceptability of blanket pardons so he can give himself one. But DJT is very motivated to jail his enemies, and getting Biden pardons struck down would sure simplify that effort.
P.S. A SCOTUS ruling invalidating blanket pardons would poll extremely well. Sorry for being a bit of a cynic, but I cannot believe SCOTUS is immune to public opinion.
Considering that Roberts looked at the reaction to Dobbs and his response was essentially along the lines of “How DARE you peasants question me!?”, I’m not so sure of that.
Where is the end to this ?
Trump surely at the end of his 2nd term and all future presidents may adopt the same strategy and it is like falling down a deep pit with no stairs to climb out.
He’ll do that anyway, in the unlikely event he doesn’t die in office. What Biden does or doesn’t do affects nothing the Republicans will do, as has been repeatedly pointed out.
As they say, with the Republicans every accusation is a confession.
A Roberts Court opinion that pardons by Republican presidents are valid, while pardons by Democratic presidents are unconstitutional is entirely possible.
I do recall how they famously ruled in Bush’s favor over Gore, and also specified “Oh, and this ruling applies to nothing else”. So yeah, I can certainly see them just deciding that Democratic pardons don’t count while Republican pardons are sacred.
The end to this is (hopefully) that the American voters stop electing people like Trump, who will push the limits of whatever power they’re given in a quest to increase their own power at the expense of everyone else. We wouldn’t be having this conversation if Clinton had won in 2016.
Trump will abuse his pardon power. That’s a given, look at some of the pardons he made the past time. The only question is “How much will he abuse it?” Restricting what Biden does to protect as many people as possible from Trump’s petty vengeance out of fears about what this will “allow” Trump to do completely misunderstands the dynamics of this situation.
Agree. Ultimately in a democracy the people get what they voted. And they voted Trump in with eyes open…it seems a majority (or a plurality if one is nitpicking) of Americans do want his agenda and they got what they wanted.
Yes. There is no universe in which Trump refrains from doing something he wants to do, on the grounds that ‘Biden didn’t do it, so I can’t do it either.’
As things stand, Trump will go after people he believes crossed him with any and every means, and as has been pointed out in this thread, many cannot be countered by Biden pardons. (Having red-states indict or bring suit against people; making up new supposed-2025 federal crimes; federal civil suits.) And in all these cases the victims stands a good chance of becoming impoverished due to having to defend themselves—all to the glee of Donald.
But I don’t think that just quietly having all this happen is the answer. Being quiet and passive about what Donald is likely to do will not deter Donald.
The best course is wide publicity that pulls no punches. Do make blanket pardons of categories of people (as with the Jimmy Carter draft-dodgers pardon). Don’t name them individually (Carter’s Proclamation 4483 did not). Categories of people such as are listed in the OP should each receive a pardon–I’d add journalists and publishers who printed/posted anything Trump didn’t like. And definitely add sources of information for those printings and postings.
The crucial part is the wording of each pardon. It must clearly state that the pardon is intended to thwart miscarriages of justice perpetrated by Trump and his Administration. It should DIRECTLY quote Trump and anyone who makes it into his Cabinet, whenever they’ve talked about “going after” someone or about vengeance or any related subject. It should state the principle that our laws are not a tool of retribution or reprisal, no matter what Trump claims.
Make it clear that these are extraordinary times and that Biden would not be issuing pardons if a law-abiding President-Elect were following him.
If individuals who fall under any of the categories—2020 election officials; House Jan 6 Committee members, etc.—don’t want to accept the pardon, they don’t have to.
But the language of the pardons will stand to cast a spotlight on Trump’s unlawful plans.
It is obvious that Trumpism is not going to die until, like McCarthyism, it reaches it own “Have you no sense of decency?”* moment. We cannot depend on our laws, our norms, or our national belief in equity to bring sanity to come into play. Trump has, like McCarthy, driven a wedge in what our citizens believe what makes us American way too deep for that to happen.
No, the only way out of this is to let Trump take actions so egregious that even his base can no longer stand behind him. Let him turn the DOJ into his own group of thugs. Let him attack Liz Cheney. Let him go after his political adversaries, just like he was claiming the Democrats were doing to him, except Trump will go after all he can while the Democrats only went after the lawbreaker. Let his go ahead and put idiots in charge of the Executive Branch, then try to get anything done with nothing but idiots in charge.
Sure, put up a fight, but don’t violate existing norms to stop him. That’s his game. Either he is full of it and will fail spectacularly, or he isn’t. If we violate our norms to try to rein him, he’ll just use that as evidence our norms were invalid, anyway.
/* Those unfamiliar with this phrase or don’t understand McCarthyism, need to look it up. It’s not that those who don’t know history are condemned to repeat it, it’s that those who don’t know history don’t recognize it when it repeats.
Democrats’ obsession with “norms” is how he was able to get elected twice and avoid any responsibility for his crimes. At the rate things are going, “We adhered to all the norms” is going to be on the Democratic Party’s headstone.
McCarthy did not control the information reaching Americans. Thus they had the opportunity to see all that he did—and to ultimately reject it.
Why on earth would Trump allow the free movement of information? His idols Putin and Xi certainly don’t.
Of course for all this to happen quickly there would have to be a Big Event that masses of Americans (perhaps not the majority, but enough) believe to be reasonable justification for Trump to restrict the internet, radio, television, etc. (We can count print out, sadly.) But it could happen slowly, too. The IRS could quietly contact the executives in charge of cable providers, internet providers, and radio networks, and let them know that favorable coverage equals freedom from audits. (I really don’t see how we can count that out. We’d never know it was happening–we’d just see only praise of Trump on all media. We wouldn’t see the reason for it.)
Bottom line: Americans may never know that Trump is doing things to which they’d object.