Pardons

Stephen E. Sachs | 12.2.2024 11:52 AM

President Biden has pardoned his son Hunter for all federal crimes committed from 2014 through yesterday. That's not just for the crimes for which Hunter has already been charged, but for anything he did (or may have done) during the last ten years. Granting this pardon was something the President had pledged not to do in June, while he was still a candidate for reelection ("I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him."). But, as NBC reports, "it was decided at the time that he would publicly say he would not pardon his son even though doing so remained on the table." And now that the election is over, Biden could issue the pardon without worrying that voters would punish him or Vice President Harris, who had replaced him on the ticket.

Presidents have the constitutional "Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment." There's nothing Congress can do about that. Giving someone a pardon power is hard to do without, because the chain........

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