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To: cynwoody
In case of impeachment, they can kiss their pardons goodbye.

That assumes he's actually removed, which is highly unlikely.

Until he's removed, he can issue pardons, except in the case of individuals who themselves have been impeached. That's a pretty tiny class of persons.

Impeachment and removal from office are two separate parts of the process. The Constitution states, "... in cases of impeachment."

I do realize that everyone has lost faith in everything and everybody, and for good reason. However, we are not dead yet, and we are obligated to push for justice.

29 posted on 07/26/2014 3:14:16 AM PDT by meadsjn
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To: meadsjn
The Constitution states, "... in cases of impeachment."

Yes, but does that mean his power to pardon is suspended the moment the House passes articles of impeachment? Or the moment he's no longer the President, having been removed by the Senate?

Or does it simply mean that the pardon power doesn't extend to canceling an impeachment (e.g., of any federal office holder, say Alcee Hastings)?

This link would indicate it only keeps the president from interfering in impeachments, not from pardoning in general (boldface added):

But how, if at all, should such a power [of pardon] be limited? A proposal introduced by Connecticut's Roger Sherman to make Presidential pardons subject to the consent of the Senate was considered but quickly rejected by the Convention (the Senate was deemed to be powerful enough already). So was Luther Martin's suggestion of confining pardons to convicted persons only; the Framers concluded that pre-conviction pardons might be useful to further national interests - immediately pardoning a captured spy, for instance, might produce yield important military intelligence. The Constitutional Convention did, however, agree that pardons could not be issued "in cases of impeachment"; this may have been prompted by concerns arising from a 17th century English constitutional crisis which had developed after King Charles II pardoned the Earl of Danby, Thomas Osborne, who had been impeached by Parliament.

With the single exception of impeachment, then, the pardon power emerged from Philadelphia as exclusive, broad, and unfettered by the regular checks and balances of the governmental structure.


33 posted on 07/26/2014 3:41:19 AM PDT by cynwoody
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To: meadsjn

There’s no “suspension of pardon power”. The “in cases of impeachment” clause means that a President can’t pardon someone else’s impeachment; e.g., can’t pardon the impeachment of a Federal judge who has been removed by Congress and put him back on the bench.


41 posted on 07/26/2014 6:14:10 AM PDT by Campion
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