Pardons' acceptance require admitting guilt IMPEACHMENT. PLUS-cannot pardon NY or NJ State crimes. [View all]

[Madam45for2923]

Pardons' acceptance require admitting guilt = IMPEACHMENT. PLUS-cannot pardon NY or NJ State crimes.

Why Trump Critics Should Pray He Pardons Himself

...It shouldn’t.

In fact, if President Trump were to pardon himself, it would make him ripe for impeachment. No, I don’t mean that pardoning himself would amount to obstruction of justice or some other offense that he could theoretically be charged with if Congress stretches the facts to fit some statute. I mean that the pardon itself could be all the evidence Democrats need to oust Trump.

See, what a lot of people don’t realize is that a pardon isn’t simply a get out of jail free card that says a person has done nothing wrong. Quite the opposite, in order to accept a pardon, a person has to admit wrongdoing. According to the Supreme Court’s 1915 decision in Burdick v. United States, a pardon “carries an imputation of guilt; acceptance a confession of it.”

That means that if Trump were to pardon himself for an offense, he would have to confess to it first. This element was a key factor in President Gerald Ford‘s decision to pardon President Richard Nixon. It assured that Nixon at least fess up to his crimes before being absolved.

This is important because Section II, Article 2 of the Constitution says that the President “shall have the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.” So while Trump may be able to use a pardon to protect himself from federal prosecution, it wouldn’t prevent him from being impeached.

The impeachment process, of course, demands evidence in order to file charges, or articles of impeachment, and evidence would then be brought before the Senate, who would vote on whether or not to remove the President from office.

What stronger evidence against a President could there be than an official, on the record admission that he did something wrong?

I wonder if Trump’s lawyers told him that.


http://lawnewz.com/opinion/why-trump-critics-should-pray-he-pardons-himself/