- Joined
- 30 June 2008
- Posts
- 15,594
- Reactions
- 7,472
Came across this analysis of the Presidental power of self pardoning and how the US Constitution was argued and framed. Very interesting and well worth the read IMO.
Robert Mueller won’t save us
Only Congress can decide if the president is above the law.
By Sean Illing@seanillingsean.illing@vox.com Jun 18, 2018, 8:00am EDT
Share
Is the president of the United States above the law?
The question seems ridiculous on its face. But the reality of President Donald Trump forces it upon us. The president is doing things that many assumed could not, or would not, be done. He seems to believe, among other things, that he has total control over the federal law enforcement apparatus, that he has the right to pardon himself, that he cannot obstruct justice, and that he cannot be subpoenaed or indicted for any crimes he might commit.
Some of this was contradicted more than a week ago, when White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed questions about the president pardoning himself. “Thankfully, the president hasn’t done anything wrong and wouldn’t have any need for a pardon,” she said, adding that “no one is above the law.”
But let’s take the words of the president seriously. If he’s right — if he has absolute power to pardon himself from legal consequences for absolutely any wrongdoing — then we do not have a president; we have a monarch. And we are not, as John Adams once promised, “a government of laws, not of men.”
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/18/17433612/trump-mueller-congress-constitution-rule-of-law
Robert Mueller won’t save us
Only Congress can decide if the president is above the law.
By Sean Illing@seanillingsean.illing@vox.com Jun 18, 2018, 8:00am EDT
Share
Is the president of the United States above the law?
The question seems ridiculous on its face. But the reality of President Donald Trump forces it upon us. The president is doing things that many assumed could not, or would not, be done. He seems to believe, among other things, that he has total control over the federal law enforcement apparatus, that he has the right to pardon himself, that he cannot obstruct justice, and that he cannot be subpoenaed or indicted for any crimes he might commit.
Some of this was contradicted more than a week ago, when White House press secretary Sarah Sanders dismissed questions about the president pardoning himself. “Thankfully, the president hasn’t done anything wrong and wouldn’t have any need for a pardon,” she said, adding that “no one is above the law.”
But let’s take the words of the president seriously. If he’s right — if he has absolute power to pardon himself from legal consequences for absolutely any wrongdoing — then we do not have a president; we have a monarch. And we are not, as John Adams once promised, “a government of laws, not of men.”
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/18/17433612/trump-mueller-congress-constitution-rule-of-law