For historians, the retrospective legitimation of essentially every criminal act Nixon committed while in office is quite mind-boggling. Ford’s pardon was utterly unnecessary.
Does this ruling affect lackeys and henchmen? If the President orders you to go kill John Roberts is the guy who pulls the trigger still a criminal if the president isn’t?
I don't see why Democrats don't immediately launch a campaign against SC. "We support rule of law, no one is above the law, this court must be replaced with judges who follow the constitution as written and support our democratic traditions in full." etc etc.
Sure. But he can pardon you.
Who knows, maybe he can pardon you for crimes you haven't even committed yet. Or give a blanket pardon in advance for anyone who kills any SCOTUS justice appointed by a Republican.
No they aren't covered. That's what presidential pardons are for. Even better in some ways because it forces loyalty out of the henchmen. Want a pardon? Then you will do as I tell you.
bsky.app/profile/dond...
Nixon and the Rwgan scandals seem to represent a large formative part of the conservative psyche, which seems like a source of revision and resentment.
So if the President does it, it's not illegal?
I do wonder if the fall of Nixon and the Reagan scandals had such a profound effect on conservatives of a it should not have happened/cannot happen feeling was a major part of jurisprudence policy, like the unitary executive.
I just saw law prof Josh Chafetz at the bad place ask the same question I've been posing: How does this not enable POTUS to simply kill opponents at will?
To say nothing of ordering protesters be shot or indefinitely detained without charges etc.
It's all "official"
I don’t think conservatives wouldn’t have ended up here eventually, but I do think it was a mistake for liberals to retrospectively cast the pardon as a brave choice for the good of the country and thereby grant it legitimacy (e.g., the Profile in Courage Award).
The most troubling part is that it's very hard to imagine how this decision can be reversed.
It would require a president insisting on being guilty.
It's basically bye, bye, USA.
Ford's pardon was necessary at the time to smooth the way for the people who have dragged the country to this point.
*Now* something like Ford's pardon is unnecessary.
Ford's pardon didn't happen in a vacuum. He did it because someone in party leadership assured him it was the right thing to do. The Party made a calculation that They needed Nixon off the hook more than We needed public accountability for crimes.
