(The Center Square) – Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito raised questions Thursday regarding presidential self-pardons and if that question needed to be answered before the court could decide if former President Donald Trump is entitled to the sweeping immunity his legal team has said all presidents enjoy.
Whether a president has the power to pardon himself has been untested by the courts because it has never happened. Should it happen in the future, it would almost certainly face a legal challenge.
On Thursday, Alito asked U.S. Solicitor Michael Dreeben, who represents the U.S. Department of Justice and Special Counsel Jack Smith, about the Justice Department’s position on self-pardons.
“I don’t believe the Department of Justice has taken a position on that,” Dreeben said. “The only authority that I’m aware of is a member of the Office of Legal Counsel wrote on a memorandum that there is no self-pardon authority. As far as I know, the department has not addressed it further. And of course, this Court had not addressed [it] either.”
Alito said without knowing the Justice Department’s position, every future president would pardon themselves.
“Don’t you think we need to know the answer to at least the Justice Department’s position on that issue in order to decide this case?” Alito asked. “Because if the President has the authority to pardon himself before leaving office, and if the DC Circuit is right that there is no immunity from prosecution, won’t the predictable result be that presidents on the last couple of days of office are going to pardon themselves from anything that they might have been conceivably charged with committing?”
Dreeben said he doubted that would happen.
“It sort of presupposes a regime that we have never had except for President Nixon and as alleged in the indictment here, presidents who are conscious of having engaged in wrongdoing and seeking to shield themselves, I think the political consequences of a president who asserted a right of self-pardon that has ever been recognized, that seems to contradict a bedrock principle of our law, that no person shall be the judge in their own case,” he said. “Those are adequate deterrence, I think, so that this kind of dystopian regime is not going to evolve.”
Former President Richard Nixon resigned from office in 1974 before he could be impeached over a break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee during the 1972 campaign, the heart of the Watergate scandal. After Nixon’s resignation, Vice President Gerald Ford assumed the presidency and pardoned Nixon.
Smith’s team has argued that Nixon’s acceptance of a pardon is evidence that president’s aren’t entitled to broad immunity from criminal conduct.
Prosecutors argued that even if Trump has immunity for some official acts, the criminal conduct he’s charged with also involved private acts.
“Even if this Court holds that a former President is entitled to some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, that principle does not preclude trial on this indictment,” they wrote in a court filing prior to Thursday’s oral arguments in the case.
In Washington, Smith’s team charged Trump with four federal counts related to contesting the 2020 election and the storming of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. The charges are conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction, and conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted, according to the indictment. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In Washington, Smith’s team charged Trump with four federal counts related to contesting the 2020 election
Why would he not contest the 2020 election when he knew the Usurper stole the election ?!?
To add to that, when WE STILL ARE seeing stories even today, about ‘voter irregularities’ being found from 2020, WHY WOULD any sane person have been FORCED TO “Certify’ the election.
Does a President have the power to self pardon?
#1. If a President has immunity under the law, he can’t be charged by corrupt district attorneys, so he has no need for self pardon.
#2. Only congress has the power to impeach and convict a president, if the president commits a crime.
This prevents bull Schmitt crimes filed by corrupt district attorneys filled for political reasons, as we see now against Donald Trump.
This treasonous, corrupt, unethical, dishonest Democrat Party is so scared that Donald Trump will be elected as president in 2024, they will do or say ANYTHING to stop it, because they know Donald Trump will put a stop to the corrupt Democrat Party’s treasonous, corrupt, destructive, and deadly agendas.
This Treasonous, dishonest, destructive, woke, immoral, Socialist Democrat Party’s and their Democrat RINOs objective is to deliberately lie, cheat and steal. To disregard the U.S. Constitution and our laws, in order to take total control of the American people by restricting U.S. citizens their constitutional rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech. Stopping oil production, increase Spending, Taxes and the inflation cost of everything and bring American commerce and economy to its knees and to promote Socialism, enforced by their political DOJ, their FBI Gestapo and IRS.
Then access power and retain it by any means available –
No matter the costs to the people, the government, or the nation.
This treasonous, destructive, immoral, lying, woke, socialist Democrat Party, their Democrat RINOs and their corrupt, demented, obedient sock-puppet president Joe B. OBiden’s administration has become our country’s most destructive and deadliest ENEMY!
The constitution gives the President the power of the pardon, but makes no reference who can or cannot enjoy one. Democrats first proved with Trump that you can prosecute a ham sandwich,,,,,When Hunter and himself are about to get thrown into the slammer for treason, Joe no doubt will be the first Precedent setting President that will attempt to Pardon a Hard-on.
“Democrats first proved with Trump that you can prosecute a ham sandwich,,,,,”
Give me the man and I will give you the case against him.
It refers to the miscarriage of justice in the form of the abuse of power by the jurists, who can find the defendant guilty of “something” if they so desire. As we are seeing the treasonous Democrats trying to prove criminal conduct against Donald Trump.
Lavrentiy Beria, the most ruthless and longest-serving secret police chief in Joseph Stalin’s reign of terror in Russia and Eastern Europe, bragged that he could prove criminal conduct on anyone, even the innocent. As we are seeing the treasonous Democrat Party’s attempting on Donald Trump.
AND IF congress HAS NOT Impeached him, why can courts then go after trump?
If Mr. Trump gets back in there; he’s going to do a lot of things we haven’t seen before. Pardoning himself will be one of those moves. The money making moves the Trump clan does will be the interesting activities.
Don’t you mean the CLINTON Crime syndicate and Biden family?
Democrats will continue to push the limits of protectional power until one day Republicans realize they too can use the justice system to take out their opponents. The anarchy we are seeing within our justice system is a precursor for a new and oppressive America. The 1/6 protesters already know we are living in a third world country, it’s time the rest of us realized it as well.
Even IF the scotus does rule in trump’s favor, these LIBTARD TRaitor DA’s won’t care.. THEY WILL STILL PUSH their illegal prosecutions, to tie him up as LONG AS feasably possible..