Article II, section 2 of the US Constitution. Dose this mean Trump cannot pardon? Or be pardoned?

[icymist]

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

[sweetloukillbot]

1. I take it that he can't pardon someone who has been impeached nt

[California_Republic]

5. Or Pardon some involved in his impeachment?

[dflprincess]

2. I would take it to mean he can't be pardoned for impeachment, pardon himself or, if Barr was

impeached, pardon him.

He can grant pardons to others (Clinton did after his impeachment) though I suppose there would be a question about pardoning anyone related to the charges against him.

[RockRaven]

3. Nah... just means impeachments cannot be pardoned like Article III cases,

at least AKAIK that is what it means.

[StarfishSaver]

4. It means his pardon power does not extend to being able to pardon anyone from being impeached

[sweetloukillbot]

6. So Nixon was able to be pardoned because he resigned before being impeached

Had he been impeached Ford would not have been able to pardon.

[onenote]

7. wrong.

Just as someone who is impeached can subsequently be indicted and face criminal punishment for the same offenses, they can be pardoned with respect to any criminal liability that they face.

[StarfishSaver]

8. This

A president can pardon anyone either before or after a trial and conviction. But they cannot use their pardon power to get someone out of being impeached - because impeachment is not a criminal matter.

For example, if the House decided to start impeachment proceedings against Barr, Trump could not prevent his impeachment by using his pardon. He could, however, impeach him regarding any federal crimes he could be charged with, whereupon the Justice Department would not be able to prosecute him. But he could still be impeached by Congress.

[Talitha]

9. Does it also mean that if trump quits now, Pence cannot pardon him?

I'd read that Nixon quit because he found out the House was going to impeach him, so he stepped down and Gerald Ford became president. But as president, Ford would not be able to pardon Nixon if he'd been impeached, so Nixon quit in order to receive the presidential pardon from Ford.

So if trump steps down now and makes Pence the president, Pence would not be able to pardon trump because he's been impeached.

Do I understand all of this correctly?

[FBaggins]

10. He couldn't pardon him from the impeachment

But that hardly matters because all an impeachment (with conviction) does is remove him from office (which would have already occurred)

He could arguably pardon him for crimes that led to the impeachment

[StarfishSaver]

11. No. Pence could still pardon him

Impeachment and criminal liability are two completely different and unrelated things. One doesn't have any effect on the other in any way.

A president's power to pardon applies ONLY to prevent a person from being criminally prosecuted and, if they've already been prosecuted and convicted, wiping away the consequences of that conviction.

An impeachment operates only as a political act. It doesn't have any legal consequences and a president cannot use the pardon to protect anyone from impeachment or to erase the impeachment once it occurs. If a person is impeached, there's nothing a president can do about it.

But a president can still use his or her pardon power to protect a person from being criminally prosecuted, even if they've been impeached. The fact that someone has been impeached has no effect on whether they can be pardoned.

[Talitha]

12. Thanks, FBaggins and StarfishSaver!!