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nykym

(3,063 posts)
9. there is an exception to that
Thu Apr 25, 2019, 04:39 PM
Apr 2019

Q; Can the president pardon someone who hasn't been convicted of a crime?

A: Yes. In Ex Parte Garland, an 1866 case involving a former Confederate Senator who was disbarred from the practice of law, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his pardon from President Andrew Johnson restored his civil rights — even though he had never been charged with a crime.

The pardon power, the court said, "extends to every offence known to the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment."

Most famously, Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes that Nixon "has committed or may have committed or taken part in" during his presidency.

Link: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/04/presidential-pardons-explanation-executive-clemency-powers/660381002/

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