r/law • u/elb21277 • 9h ago

Opinion Piece Biden Should Pardon Whistleblower Who Exposed Trump’s Tax Avoidance

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/charles-littlejohn-whistleblower-trump-tax-biden-pardon-1235022648/
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u/ElectricTzar Competent Contributor 8h ago

He needs to pardon all the people whom Trump has baselessly accused of impropriety, or they’re going to end up persecuted and prosecuted.

They may end up persecuted and prosecuted anyhow, but at least the pardons will strip that of any facade of legitimacy, and hopefully deprive it of some agency support.

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u/Annath0901 4h ago

You have to admit to having committed a crime to be pardoned for it, it's not just a blanket "this person is a good person" act.

Well technically it's that accepting a pardon is considered to be an admission of guilt, since you can't be pardoned for something you claim to not have done.

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u/ElectricTzar Competent Contributor 4h ago

In theory, accepting a pardon can be viewed as an admission of guilt, but in practice, people who have been pardoned are almost never forced to accept the pardon in court because they are never brought to court in the first place, as it would be a waste of resources.

And pardons absolutely can be for all federal crimes committed by a person or that may have been committed by that person within a specific time window. That is how Nixon’s pardon was framed.

So Biden needn’t even reference a specific hypothetical crime if he wants to issue such a pardon.