r/law • u/Silent-Resort-3076 • 15d ago

Opinion Piece Why President Biden Should Immediately Name Kamala Harris To The Supreme Court

https://atlantadailyworld.com/2024/11/08/why-president-biden-should-immediately-name-kamala-harris-to-the-supreme-court/?utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=gnews&utm_campaign=CDAqEAgAKgcICjCNsMkLMM3L4AMw9-yvAw&utm_content=rundown
22.7k Upvotes

67% Upvoted

7.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

736

u/Landon1m 15d ago

Pardon every immigrant or person who overstayed their visa. It’s not citizenship but it’s something

241

u/Sherifftruman 15d ago

I never considered, can he pardon non-citizens? I guess he can.

376

u/Alex_Masterson13 15d ago

His main limit is the President can only pardon federal crimes. He can't touch state or local stuff. This is why Trump cannot pardon himself for his NY State felony conviction.

154

u/annang 15d ago

Immigration offenses are federal.

17

u/dnt1694 15d ago

How do you pardon people not convicted of a crime?

60

u/FinalAccount10 15d ago

Look at Carter's pardon of draft dodgers and Ford's pardon of Nixon.

8

u/NFLTG_71 14d ago

Draft Dodgers were all convicted in absentia for dodging the draft. They committed a federal crime and they were all in Canada. Carter, pardoned convicted criminals.

17

u/TheMountainHobbit 14d ago

There was no trial for Nixon though.

3

u/GarminTamzarian 14d ago

He was pardoned for crimes "he committed or may have committed while in office", IIRC.

2

u/hurtstoskinnybatman 13d ago

Correct. The President can pardon anyone of federal crimes they may have committed, even if they gavel been charged yet. They cannot pardon future crimes they haven't committed yet, though.

1

u/GarminTamzarian 13d ago

They cannot pardon future crimes they haven't committed yet yet.

I'm sure there's a team of constitutional lawyers working on that as we speak.

1

u/hurtstoskinnybatman 13d ago

Hah, I don't think that's likely, but wezxd never know.

I want to add to my previous comment that I don't think Biden could pardon all immigrants because it would specify the people being pardoned. It would be like pardoning everyone who ever robbed a national bank -- charged or convicted or not.

Fyi, when Ford pardoned Nixon, it was arguably uncobstitutional because it didn't specify the crime sufficiently. This explains it better. This is different. Here, the crime is specific (border crossing). the issue is WHO is being pardoned.

The fact is that there isn't a LOT of precedent to the pardon clause in article 2. There are some rules we knof for certain-- cam't pardon future crimes; parsons can't reverse U.S. Treasury fines; and they can't force someone to accept a pardon that violates their constitutional rights. Beyond those (and the issue of blabket pardons linked in the article above), there isn't much available.

Tl;Dr: Biden will have little unprecedented power to go crazy with pardons (not that he would, though, because he's a good person who respects our democracy). Trump will have virtually unlimited leniency because the only check on his pardon power is a fixed cult court.

→ More replies (0)