Can Judge Jackson refuse to accept Roger Stone's commutation?

[Arazi]

Seeing this idea starting to bubble... Trump is co-conspirator #1. Jackson knows his (still secret) identity plus she knows it's not legally permissible for Trump to commute or pardon co-conspirators.

We've long assumed Trump would get away with this illegal action because Barr won't interfere but what if Judge Jackson weighs in?

Link to tweet

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[hedda_foil]

1. No.

[Nevilledog]

2. Interesting. I must think about this further.

[Nevilledog]

3. Pelosi

Link to tweet

?s=20

[Arazi]

5. Yes, obviously legislatively that's got to happen. This would be a judicial path

[Nevilledog]

7. I agree.

I just hadn't read Pelosi's comments

[Alex4Martinez]

18. Can't be applied retroactively, one would think.

But I feel confident that there's a list of crimes that can still be prosecuted on his sorry ass.

[Nevilledog]

20. He's probably committed a couple today....lol

[Alex4Martinez]

22. !

[FoxNewsSucks]

23. and Moscow Mitch will fast-track it throught Senate

to be immediately signed by the president.

Right.

[NCjack]

4. Could go to the SC. Beerbong may have to show us what he is.

[Arazi]

6. Yes, a 7-2 decision in Mazars shows us this SCOTUS doesn't believe Trump is above the law

[DeminPennswoods]

27. Actaully all 9 justices made a point of writing in their opinions

that the president is not above the law.

[Nevilledog]

8. Issue is who has standing to raise legal challenge?

[Arazi]

9. If Judge Jackson refuses to accept the commutation and demands evidence

Of Trumps good faith rationale (we know he doesn't have one), presumably this would wend its way thru the courts where we now know how firmly this SCOTUS regards DTs position vis a vis the law.

Presumably it would be Judge Jackson, in the same role as Judge Sullivan in Flynn's case, who would have standing.

[Nevilledog]

10. Jackson has no power here from what I can tell.

Trump’s Most Brazen Reprieve Yet

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/07/trump-commutes-roger-stone-sentence/606877/


A commuted sentence replaces the original, court-ordered sentence. A controversial example is ex-President Bush’s 2007 decision to commute Scooter Libby’s 30-month prison sentence.
Compared to Pardons

Like the pardoning power, the power to commute sentences is in the executive’s discretion; neither the legislative nor judicial branch can interfere with or override that power.
Although commutation is considered part of the pardoning power, there are significant differences between commutations and pardons.


Forgiveness vs. reduction. Pardons forgive the defendant for the crime, while commutation only reduces the sentence.

Acceptance. Prisoners must accept pardons, but some states allow commuted sentences without the prisoner’s consent.

Civil rights. Unlike pardons, commutations don’t restore the civil rights lost with the criminal conviction.

Basis. Prisoners usually earn commutation through good behavior, while pardons can be issued for a wide variety of reasons, some of which may be purely political.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/commutation-sentence.html


Add I suspected, the Judge has no avenue to undo a commutation. Flynn's case involves a motion to dismiss which requires the Judge to affirmatively accept it.

Looks like Stone is free to still challenge the conviction. And the only remedy available is to impeach trump.

[George II]

15. Since he was convicted of lying to Congress, among other charges, any Congressman sitting....

....at the time probably has standing.

[Nevilledog]

16. I think he can commute and only remedy we have is to impeach him.

From my reading, Judge Jackson has zero power.

I do think there's lots else out there on Stone.

[Nevilledog]

24. Don't think that's a possibility. Would love to be proved wrong.

The commutation does leave the conviction on Stone's record. He will no doubt be appealing the conviction even though his sentence has been commuted.

[mn9driver]

11. The only exception to the pardon (commutation included) power in the constitution

Is in the case of impeachment. Trump isn’t being impeached for Stone’s crimes and Stone holds no office to be impeached, so it seems unlikely that even a corrupt commutation can be blocked. JMO, of course.

But, since it is not an actual pardon, there is no reason why further charges cannot be brought against Stone; as long as they are different from the ones he was convicted and sentenced for. Somehow I doubt that Barr will do that.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

12. No, and legislation won't fix it either.

The power is found in the Constitution and its only restriction is that it can't be used for impeachment cases. The only way this changes is through an Amendment or via a SCOTUS decision that interprets it differently.

[Progressive dog]

13. Can't and won't happen

Judges obey and understand the law, they don't fight corruption with lawless behavior.

[grantcart]

14. No but in time a new Justice Department can

Call him to a GJ Grant him immunity and compel him to testify

1) he refuses and goes to jail under contempt. (S McDougal spent about 1 year in jail under Starr)

2) He lies and is prosecuted on new charges of perjury and obstruction

[Nevilledog]

17. She spent 22 months.

[grantcart]

31. Thanks wasn't sure the exact length

Was that with 2 grand juries?

I know that it expires at the end of the Grand Jury term, wasn't sure if they brought her in a second time

[Nevilledog]

32. Here prison time is very convoluted. Looks like 18 months on contempt. 4 more for second?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_McDougal

Prison

From September 9, 1996 to March 6, 1998, McDougal spent the maximum possible 18 months' imprisonment for civil contempt, including eight months in solitary confinement, and she was subjected to "diesel therapy," described by McDougal as "the practice of hauling defendants around the country and placing them in different jails along the way."[12][13]

McDougal was shuffled from Arkansas to "Los Angeles to the Oklahoma City transfer center, and then on to the Pulaski County Jail in Little Rock, Arkansas".[14]

Following her release on March 7, 1998 for civil contempt of court, McDougal began serving the two-year sentence for her 1996 conviction.[15]

Soon afterward, the Independent Counsel indicted McDougal on criminal charges of contempt of court and obstruction of justice. After serving four months on the Whitewater fraud conviction, she was released for medical reasons.[16]

After McDougal's release, her embezzlement trial in California began. In 1998, McDougal was acquitted on all 12 counts.[17]

A suit in 1999 against Nancy Mehta for malicious prosecution was settled out of court.[18]
McDougal's trial for criminal charges of contempt of court and obstruction of justice began in March 1999. The jury deadlocked 7–5 in her favor on the charge of contempt of court and found her not guilty on the charge of obstruction of justice.[19] In 2001, in the final hours of his presidency, President Clinton granted McDougal a full presidential pardon.[20]

[onenote]

19. No. The President's exercise of the constitutional power to grant reprieves and pardons

is unreviewable by the judicial branch. Congress could seek to impeach claiming an abuse of power, but that isn't going anywhere.

[bucolic_frolic]

21. Pardoning yourself is being above the law, and a power no one is legally entitled to

This is uncharted territory, but who has standing to challenge it? All citizens for the rule of law class action?

Interesting Americans are thinking this through and not taking it lying down.

[paleotn]

25. The plot thickens.

[NYC Liberal]

26. There is no constitutional basis for any of this. The pardon power is absolute

in cases of federal crimes.

Now, that doesn’t mean that the president can, for example, accept a bribe in exchange for a pardon. That would be illegal and prosecutable but the pardon would still be valid.

[la-trucker]

28. No.

[kst]

29. No, it doesn't say that.

"They don't need to move on this legislation, it's already in the Constitution that you can't pardon a co-conspirator!"

There is no such wording in the Constitution.

"... and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."

(That last clause just means that a President cannot overturn a Senate conviction by granting a pardon.)

[former9thward]

30. No.

And legislation can't stop commutations or pardons. Somebody played hooky in law school.