this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2026
308 points (99.4% liked)

politics

31516 readers
2696 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles. Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to US politics and contain quality and original content. Social Media adjacent hosts like Substack are allowed, but ONLY if they tie back to a company/subsidiary. No personal or friend group blogs and no self-promotion. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and re-hosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing other users of being bots or paid actors.
  3. No memes, trolling, misinformation, or low-effort posts/comments (including reposts). If you see posts like this that anger you, do not engage. Report, block, and live a happier life than they do. Any slap-fight is subject to comment removals. Fights full of rule violations will result in temporary bans to cool off.
  4. No manipulating votes via bots or alt accounts; this will result in permanent bans. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in an account ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be permanently banned.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules and use critical thinking when reading, posting, and commenting. Users that repeatedly have comments or posts removed, weaponize reports, or violate the code of conduct, will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users. The reason(s) behind moderator action(s) are publicly available through the Modlog.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News

• World News

• Business News

• Political Discussion

• Ask Politics

• Military News

• Global Politics

• Moderate Politics

• Progressive Politics

• UK Politics

• Canadian Politics

• Australian Politics

• New Zealand Politics

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Conservative groups influential with the Trump administration have pressed for the preemptive acts of clemency.

There's a world of difference between a pardon issues to prevent malicious prosecution for non-crimew and one issued to people you've been instructing to commit crimes

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] canttakeitwithyou@lemmy.zip 6 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Also, maybe they can't. Define the crime, please. Can't pardon for "everything", can you?

[–] Manjushri@piefed.social 2 points 7 hours ago

The president's power to grant clemency is almost completely unlimited.

Article II, Section 2, Clause 1:

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 Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

So he can't pardon someone who has been impeached and he can only pardon crimes against the United States, meaning federal crimes. That's the only limit in the Constitution to his power. The only thing he can't do according to the Constitution is pardon people who have been impeached and state crimes.

Preempive pardons have been granted in the past. Gerald Ford issued Nixon a “full, free and absolute pardon” for any crimes Nixon might have committed during his presidency. There is no requirement that the crimes pardoned be defined in the pardon. The only rule, per SCOTUS ruling in 1866, is that the crimes be committed prior to the pardon.

“The power of pardon conferred by the Constitution upon the President is unlimited except in cases of impeachment. It extends to every offence known to the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment.”

Trump has also talked about issuing himself a preemtive pardon and people have argued about whether or not the president can do that. I'm pretty sure I know how this SCOTUS would rule on that if and when it comes up.

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

Well, they did give him broad immunity for all 'offical acts', so you never know.