New To Las Vegas

Sample Trump self-pardon

Now that the presidential election is decided, the Chattering Classes are now fixated on other pressing issues. Will President Donald J. Trump pardon himself? Can he pardon himself? If not, will he resign on January 19 and let president-for-a-day Mike Pence pardon him? Would the politically ambitious Pence really be willing to risk pulling a President Gerald Ford, who lost his own bid for election in 1976 after pardoning disgraced president Richard Nixon two years earlier?

And whatever the source, would any valid pardon in favor of Trump amount to an admission of his culpability for a wide range of  issues? Issues that include obstruction of justice, tax fraud, campaign finance irregularities involving ex-paramour payments and wholesale violations of the Emoluments Clauses?

As a student of constitutional law long before becoming New To Law Vegas, I would tell you Trump can’t pardon himself, for two simple reasons. First, self-pardons were unknown in English common law, on which our Constitution was based, with substantial modifications, upon its creation in 1787. Second, the specific wording of the relevant Constitutional clause–giving Trump the “Power to grant … pardons”–bars a self-pardon because by dictionary definition one can only “grant” something to someone else. (i.e. taking money from your left pocket and putting it in your right pocket is not a “grant” to yourself).

Still, should Trump end up with a self-pardon and later be federally indicted, it would be up to the courts to sort that out. And probably, eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court.

But on the cultural/political issue of whether accepting a pardon would an admission of personal culpability on the part of the recipient, the Supremes already have spoken. It is. Quite strikingly, the century-old case establishing this tarring proposition involved reporting by major-media investigative journalists producing what Trump might call  “fake news.” They bravely stood up to a president (Woodrow Wilson) in coverage touching on suspected tax fraud and marital infidelity. These are all topics not unassociated with Trump.

Folks, it’s hard to make up stuff like this. If I’ve caught your interest, read on. It’s a pretty good yarn. Continue reading →