These pardons will be challenged and the Supreme Court will find them unconstitutional.

[StarfishSaver]

68. No, it won't

Letting someone out of prison isn't a purpose, corrupt or otherwise.

It's possible to let someone out of prison whom many people believe are "filthy murderous trash" for a reason unrelated to corruption.

It's very difficult, if not virtually impossible, to prove corrupt intent. Trump is claiming he pardoned these people because they were unfairly treated by the justice system - which is actually a widely accepted reason for a pardon. We all know he's full of it, but he also may really believe they were railroaded, since his paranoia and sense of entitlement probably make him believe he and his associates are victims. He probably also pardoned them to reward them for covering for him, but that's difficult to prove and would not be enough since he also has an acceptable reason, even if it is delusional.

But even if it could be proven conclusively that he had corrupt intent, that wouldn't make the pardon invalid since the Constitution doesn't limit pardons to those without corrupt intent. He can pardon a tone he likes for any reason he likes, even a corrupt one.

The remedy is to prosecute him for bribery, public corruption, or obstruction of justice. But we shouldn't blow up the pardon process, which is an important safety valve in our system and usually works very well, just because Trump pissed all over it as he has done with just about every other part of our government.