Lex Anteinternet: Can the President Pardon himself?

Monday, June 4, 2018

Can the President Pardon himself?

No, he can't.

The entire question is absurd, so it's surprising to see Rudy Giuliani bring it up, but then a lot of what Giuliani has been bringing up is more than a little iffy.

The entire concept is that the President could pardon himself of acts he's committed in order to avoid impeachment. Yes, the question hasn't come up before so there's no precedent. There doesn't need to be. It's a maxim of the law that it not be read to work an absurdity, and the entire question is rip snorting absurd.

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Lex Anteinternet?

This blog has been around since 2009. In the very first post, we asked the question: "What the heck is this blog about?"

Our answer to the question was: "The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?"

We also noted: "Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book."

All of this is still true, but the focus of the blog has changed somewhat. It now focuses on the era from 1890 to 1920 in general, rather than on the law and lawyers specifically, although that may be far from obvious. It's also become the location where we comment on anything we feel moved to comment on.

We hope you'll feel moved to comment as well. While we moderate every comment, so as to weed out Spam, we greatly appreciate the comments where they are offered, and hope to see more.

Thank you for stopping in!