Seen leading to ‘monarchy’
since the day he took office has caught little fire in the chaotic months since then.
But the Constitution does at least say that a President’s pardons can’t conflict with his own impeachment case.
There’s a strong chance that any potential charge worthy of a presidential self-pardon would also be a potentially impeachable offense.
Since Trump has spent so much time attacking the probe on his campaign, which he dismisses as a “witch hunt,” any case he’d make in favor of a self-pardon would come cast in suspicion.
“He’s already made his argument hard,” Pfiffner said.
“Why would he need to pardon himself if he’s as innocent as he says?”
Davis noted that the court’s ruling would set the first precedent for how the judiciary handles presidential self-pardons. If Trump could get away with it, there would be virtually no chance of holding a future President accountable.
“I think the court would find a self-pardon is antithetical to due process,” she said. This is the ultimate irony behind presidential pardons: They can’t spare the commander-in-chief from challenges in lower governments.
The President has the right to issue pardons only for offenses “against the United States” — in other words, federal offenses.
But that has no jurisdiction over charges that could come from a state or local government.
“There would be tremendous support, I believe, for (state) attorneys general to continue if he did something as outrageous as a self-pardon,” Davis said.
“There’s no way he could totally avoid a continued criminal process.”
State attorney generals have already formed some of the most unified opposition to Trump. More than half of them have condemned at least one of his decisions in office, such as his travel bans and his firing of FBI Director James Comey.
Even if Trump pardoned himself away from federal trouble — and even if he left office scot-free — state prosecutors would have every right to pick up where the Constitution left off.
It’s hard to tell now what that would look like. But what we know so far about the Trump-Russia investigation gives some clues.
Bloomberg Politics reported this month that special counsel Robert Mueller had expanded his Russia probe into Trump’s businesses dealings — something the President explicitly warned Mueller to avoid.
Mueller is reportedly investigating business transactions that include Trump’s sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian oligarch, Trump’s ties to Russian investors in a New York City development, and the Russian purchases of apartments in several Trump buildings.
If the federal probe turned up details on those deals that could stand as state offenses — for, say, money laundering or bribery — state prosecutors could end up becoming Trump’s biggest threat.
For example, if Mueller’s investigation discovered alleged wrongdoing tied to one of Trump’s namesake properties in New York City, Trump’s home state could take up the case against him.
Once again, this would send Trump and the nation into uncharted territory, as the President would be pitted against a state Constitution rather than the U.S. Constitution.
If a conviction came, Trump likely has no way out. In most state Constitutions, including New York’s, only the governor has the power to pardon a state offense.
So if this became the dramatic conclusion to Trump’s hypothetical pardoning spree, one of America’s governors would be the final authority on the fate of the 45th President.