Can a President Pardon Himself?

Can a president pardon himself?

Since George W. Bush took power through an assault on the Constitution and the rule of law in 2000, it was no surprise that his time in office would be marked by a constant war against the Constitution and the rule of law.

Some time after the 2008 election and before his last minutes in office, President Bush will no doubt issue pardons to make sure that he and his collaborators do not have to serve jail time for their numerous violations of the law.

And, either explicitly or by reference, those pardons will cover the president himself. Perhaps he will issue a pardon in which he specifically names himself. More likely, he will pardon anyone who issued or followed executive branch orders to do [fill in the blank with the criminal act]. Either way, he’ll cover himself.

That begs the question: Can the president pardon himself? I believe that will be the major constitutional question facing the country after Constitution Restoration Day next January 20.

The Constitution seems to give the president pretty much limitless authority to pardon anybody of any federal crime: The entirety of the constitutional text on pardons is that the president “shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”

Certainly, nothing in the text specifically limits his authority to pardon himself.

But that can’t be the end of the analysis. Our entire democratic system of government is based on the rule of law. If the president can regularly pardon himself of any crime, even before criminal charges are made, then he has been placed above the law. If nothing else, the U.S. Constitution enshrines the concept of the rule of law. It surely cannot allow for a president wholly unbound by law.

And to the extent that a pardon is done to cover up the crimes that he and his collaborators committed, is the pardon itself a crime?

As the next president is still settling into this new office, these will be the constitutional questions he and the nation that elected him will face.

The Bush presidency will come full circle: born attacking the rule of law, it will end the same way.

McCain Declares War on Gay Parents

Echoing the hackneyed “states’ rights” mantra that has so often been trotted out to defend the indefensible, Sen. McCain today declared war on tens of thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of families across the nation. After he expressed an unequivocal blanket opposition to adoption by same-sex couples, his campaign today issued a “correction.” He assured lesbian and gay Americans that he does not currently plan to strip them of their rights to become adoptive parents, nor does he currently plan to keep children from being adopted by loving parents.

No, he will leave that to the states.

In communities in every part of the nation, more and more Americans are realizing that their lesbian and gay family members, friends, and neighbors are not some frightening “other” that must be kept out of mainstream society.

Unfortunately, rather than appealing to the majority of Americans who are increasingly turning their back on discrimination, John McCain has decided to appeal to the extreme right-wing dead-enders who are fighting to keep society closed to those they dislike.

McCain’s supporters call him brave. Would he dare walk into a room filled with children and teenagers with their same-sex parents and tell them to their face that their families are second-rate?

I’m not holding my breath.