Speculating on the question of whether Trump could pardon himself, and how the issue could play out...

in presidential •  last year 

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There is uncertainty about whether a President can pardon themself, and there would be no historical precedent. But the Constitution places no limit on the pardon power, so I think he could. And it's not clear to me who would have standing to challenge that action (except perhaps the DOJ, but see below their policy on prosecuting sitting presidents).

And accepting a pardon does not actually require admission of guilt although the Supreme Court has said (dubiously, and in mere dicta) that it implies guilt. If a pardon required admitting guilt, there would be no way to pardon an actually innocent person without denying their innocence.

But Trump is unlikely to have the opportunity to pardon himself. His lawyers will surely follow his past practice of delaying a case for as long as possible, potentially preventing it from coming to trial before Trump - if he wins election - takes office again (and he faces a judge who might not be adverse to stalling tactics). And it is the bad (I think) but official policy of the Justice Department that sitting presidents cannot be tried in court. So having prevented himself from being tried and possibly convicted, there is nothing to pardon.

Except that he could offer himself a preemptive pardon, the way Ford did for Nixon (a terrible precedent, imo). But this could be challenged by the DOJ after a successor (let's assume Democratic) took office. They could declare a self-pardon or a preemptive pardon illegitimate, which Trump would of course challenge, with the question (either or both) ending up at the Supreme Court. I won't make any predictions about how that would turn out, as it's far beyond my knowledge level to speculate intelligently.

But perhaps more likely, by that time, with another four years gone by, Trump approaching his mid-80s and no longer eligible for another presidential term, even a Democratic President might decide to just let him fade away into a desperately unhappy loss of the spotlight. The DOJ, nominally independent in such matters, might be persuaded by that President's pick for Attorney General, to go along with that.

So my overall guess is that, even if he wins the 2024 election, we never find out if a President can pardon themself. And only if he loses the election will he ever actually go to trial.

I could, of course, be wrong on every point here.

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