Response to Post 1
As the NPR article from post 1 explained,
"The case has attracted extra attention because of Trump's comments that he could possibly pardon his onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort and other Trump associates who have been — or could be — convicted in prosecutions brought by Mueller. Presidential pardons, it should be noted, only apply to federal crimes. So, under current law, a state like New York, for example, could go after Manafort for the same crimes under state laws. These concerns, he noted, extend from the president down to governors or local prosecutors. They could "bestow great gifts upon friends or family by rushing to prosecute them for certain crimes," Saltzburg pointed out, by obtaining minimal punishments.If the Supreme Court were to bar dual prosecutions, "there is a concern that a president of the United States could pardon an individual for all federal offenses" and it would effectively be a "pardon for everything," said George Washington University Law professor Stephen Saltzburg, who served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan and Bush administrations. That would be "cutting off" the ability of the federal government to bring prosecutions, for the same conduct, particularly in corruption cases."
Your follow up question to post #1 is:
What can keep a president from misusing or overusing their pardoning power? Are their enough checks in place to keep the president from misusing their power to pardon?
You are not required to do additional research for this post.
Please post before Saturday, 12/22. Thanks and have a nice break!
Labels: double jeopardy, pardon, president, Supreme Court
posted by Ms. Aby @ 8:01 PM
11 Comments:
Hello once again ladies and gentlemen of the Advanced Placement United States Government class. I believe there are several ways that a president's power of pardon could be limited. For example: if the president pardons those guilty of heinous crimes or people,such as family and friends, who have committed crimes, it will make the president look bad because of his favoritism of people regardless of their committed crimes. As a result, their approval ratings would drop and it would be harder for them to get re-elected. Also, it would tarnish their reputation among the people if they overuse the pardon power by making it seem like they condone criminal activity. Even with this discouragement of overuse of this power, I still believe there are not enough checks in place to prevent abuse of this. Some presidents may not care that they will look bad for pardoning certain people so they continue to do so without any formal consequences. Because of this, I believe some form of checks should be implemented on the president and his power to pardon.
There are checks and balances in place to prevent the president from abusing his power but some improvements can be made. A law could be made that the President can't pardon people guilty of certain crimes such as murder which would help prevent the President from pardoning anyone he would like. It would also be hard to pardon to many people for the President because then it would make the President look bad as if they were in on the crimes. Also overriding the justice system like that would make it pointless. Why have all these laws if the President will just pardon everyone? It could also be considered as illegal because let's say the presidents friend commits a federal crime and they pardon their friend, but another person commits the same exact crime and goes to prison. This can be considered as a violation of the equal protection clause. Everyone has the right to be equal in the eyes of the law, so why should one person get pardoned while the other goes to prison?
One thing that can keep the president from misusing and overusing his pardoning power is simply the Constitution. The Constitution was created in order for there to be a balance throughout the three branches of government. This implies that Checks and Balances can be used to prevent the president from misusing his power. Also, the Constitution imposes limits on a president’s ability to grant pardons if they are issued for the purpose of self-protection. The president is directed to take care of laws to be faithfully executed. Even though the president is supposed to do this, there are still not enough checks to prevent the president's abuse. There must be better checks on the president and his ability to pardon.
Something that could keep a president from misusing or over using their pardoning power is the Constitution because the power of pardoning is limited to if the president is using it for the purpose of self protection. The president is sworn in under the "faithfully execute the office of President of the United State" also meaning that the president's duties are to faithfully execute the laws. This prevents the president from abusing the pardoning power because then it abuses the laws within the Constitution that they swore by. If the president abuses this power, it shows that he is a disloyal, and he is hiding something to protect himself or others close to him. I think the checks and balance towards the president's power to pardon could be a little more stricter because it is not often that a president wants to pardon everyone they are close to, but it does eventually happen. If the checks and balance are not strict enough, then the president's power of pardoning I believe violates many rights of the law.
KIMEE NGUYEN
The Constitution does have the power to limit the misuse of the presidential pardon by making sure the president doesn't use their pardon in cases of self-protection. However, there are still other ways the president can use their pardon that wouldn't necessarily be illegal but would make them look bad. If the president is concerned about the people having negative views towards them, then they may be discouraged from abusing their pardon. However, there aren't any formal checks preventing the president from misusing their pardon and there definitely should be, especially if there are no actual consequences besides a little bit of shame. So, the president could violate the law without any consequences if there aren't any checks created to prevent the president from misusing his pardon in ways that would show an abuse of power.
The President can be limited in his power of the presidential pardon. The President can´t use the power to protect himself from criminal charges. This is an essential check in the power because if the President could pardon themselves he could do whatever they want and get away with it. The constitution spells out the checks and balances in the system and getting the President to pardon themselves is one of the many checks against the Presidential pardon.
How people view the president, whether it be the public or Congress, can keep the president from misusing or overusing their pardoning power. The president does not want to be viewed badly by the public. The public’s support is needed for the president’s policies and in order to be reelected. Also, the president would not want to upset Congress because it would make it harder to get ideas approved if they did not like the president. The president would not want to get a bad reputation for misusing his power because it could hurt his presidency. Additionally, there are a few checks in place to keep the president from misusing their power to pardon. Pardons can only be used for federal crimes and cannot be used for impeachments. The president does not pardon everyone who files for one, there is a process. It goes through the Justice Department all the way to the oval office. Although the president can bypass this process, their image can keep them from misusing the pardon power.
I feel like the power by the President to pardon people should not be overused. This is because the President could literally just pardon whoever they want. And some people that deserve to be prosecuted and don't because the president pardoned them is not right. It should mean something if the President is to pardon someone. If it's overused it loses it's purpose. I feel congress should look at a pardon of the President and decide whether or not the pardon was for a good reason.
I feel like there are certain things that can keep the president from abusing his pardoning power, but this all depends on if the president cares about his popularity and if he wants another term. However, I not think their are enough legal actions that can prevent him form abusing his pardoning power. If the president overuses his pardoning power for his own people it will make the american citizens feel as thought the president and his men are above the law, which is something the president might also develop these feelings which could lead to abuse of power in other areas. Acting as though you are above the people who elected you will make it harder you to gain support. This is the really one of the only things keeping the president from abusing his pardoning powers.
I believe that the presidential Pardon power is a way for the president to excuse an action he/she has done or someone else. So I think it is necessary for a president to use it but just don't over abuse the power. If the president pardons an action for himself or for someone else it should always be looked over carefully and taken into slight action. There is no limit on the presidential pardon the only limits mentioned in the Constitution are that pardons are limited to offenses against the United States.
There are checks and balances that work for most president's, but if the president is known for getting away with things they shouldn't and are known for abusing their power despite the checks,then we need more checks and balances. Also the checks and balances we do have don't do much for his pardoning power I don't think.There are more steps that should be taken when a president is attempting to pardon someone, like what are their crimes? Why does the president feel the need to pardon them? His reasons and the person themselves should be reviewed or something.
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