To these excerpts, I'd like to add this observation:
If Bush choses to Pardon himself from his various crimes, he could phrase it such that it also protects him from prosecution for any complicity in 9/11, without having to specify such in a blunt self-incriminating way. In order to prevent that, Congress would need to begin Impeachment hearings before Bush signed the Pardon order. So, call your Congressmen and tell them to Impeach the Mass-Murderers!
Dear Representative and Senators,
President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney stand accused of 39 grave and impeachable offenses, including war crimes, torture, warrantless wiretapping, and outing a covert CIA operative.
Most of these offenses are felonies for which Bush and Cheney can be criminally prosecuted after they leave office. But prosecutions will be impossible if Bush issues blanket pre-emptive pardons for Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, other senior officials, and even himself.
Can Bush do this? Absolutely. Gerald Ford set the precedent in 1974 when he gave Richard Nixon a blanket pre-emptive pardon for any crime he "may have committed."
Presidential pardon power is nearly unlimited under the Constitution. We support efforts in Congress to outlaw pre-emptive or self-pardons, but even if a bill passes Congress before Bush leave office, Bush will certainly veto it. So how can we stop Bush's pardons?
The Founding Fathers clearly anticipated a corrupt President might pardon his co-conspirators, and specified impeachment as the remedy.
George Mason, the father of the Bill of Rights, argued at the Constitutional Convention that the President might use his pardoning power to "pardon crimes which were advised by himself" or, before indictment or conviction, "to stop inquiry and prevent detection."
James Madison, the father of the U.S. Constitution, added that "if the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter [pardon] him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty."
As your constituent, I urge you to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney before they issue pardons. But if that fails, I urge you to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney afterwards for issuing pardons that constitute obstruction of justice and abuse of power.
A post-inaugural impeachment would prohibit those impeached from ever holding federal office, either elected or appointed. Arguably, impeachment would also nullify pre-impeachment pardons and permit prosecutions. Finally, impeachment would tell future Presidents they cannot abuse their pardon power to put themselves above the law.
In 1776, Thomas Paine famously wrote, "in America, the law is King." Congress must not allow a President to commit crimes with impunity, or it makes the President a King - or worse, a Dictator.
Pardon FAQ
Q. Why would George Bush pardon himself?
A. So he doesn't go to jail for his many crimes, including invading Iraq on the basis of lies, authorizing torture and warrantless wiretapping.
Q. If Bush pardoned himself, wouldn't that be an admission that he committed those crimes?
A. Yes, but he'd rather be embarassed than imprisoned.
Q. Does the President actually have the power to pardon himself?
A. Yes. Article 2, Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution gives the President broad pardon power:
[The President] shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
There are only two restrictions on the President's pardon power:
- He can only pardon "offences against the United States," in other words federal crimes. He cannot pardon state/local crimes or civil lawsuits or international crimes.
- He cannot pardon in a "case of impeachment."
There is no restriction on a President pardoning himself. Richard Nixon considered pardoning himself in 1974, but he was already facing impeachment and a self-pardon would have guaranteed his conviction and removal. So he resigned and let Gerald Ford pardon him one month later. The Constitution gave Nixon the power to pardon himself - he simply chose not to use that power.
Q. Can a President pardon himself for a crime when he has not been convicted or even indicted?
A. Yes. Even though Richard Nixon was neither indicted nor convicted, President Ford granted him
a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9,1974.
Q. Can a President pardon himself for war crimes or other heinous crimes?
A. He can pardon himself for any federal crime, unless he is impeached by Congress.
Q. Can Congress stop a President from pardoning himself?
A. Under current law, Congress can only stop a self-pardon by impeaching the President.
Congress could try to pass a law against self-pardons, but that law could be vetoed by the President (or declared unconstitutional through an unconstitutional signing statement).
Congress could also introduce a Constitutional Amendment to prohibit self-pardons, but that process takes years and would not apply to George W. Bush.
Q. Can Congress impeach a President who pardons himself?
A. Absolutely.
Q. Can Congress impeach a President after he leaves office?
A. Yes. Impeachment has two consequences: (a) removal from office and (b) prohibition on holding future office. While removal would be moot after a President's term has expired, the prohibition would not. Former Presidents have served in Congress (John Quincy Adams) and on the Supreme Court (William Howard Taft). A President who was impeached, even after his term expired, could not hold such an office.
Constitutional scholars will note there is no direct precedent for impeaching an official who is no longer in office. The nearest precedent is Secretary of War William Belknap, who resigned over a kickback scandal a few hours before the House voted to impeach him. The Senate did not declare the case moot due to resignation; it held a five-month trial and came within two votes of conviction.
No comments:
Post a Comment