So, what exactly would happen if Idiot pardoned himself?

[MoonRiver]

Is there some mechanism, maybe the courts, to reverse this?

[OneBro]

1. If it's gonna happen, that might be the preferred route.

He could pardon himself, then after he leaves office the Supreme Court might decide that a sitting president canNOT pardon himself. How perfectly beautiful would that be?

[Historic NY]

2. So far the legal opinion is that he cannot "grant" himself a pardon

[BlueTsunami2018]

3. Judging by the track record so far, nothing.

People will hem and haw about how “unusual” it is and then nothing will happen.

[Dan]

4. Of course not, but that might be a good thing.

Bring him before Congress, under Oath...and ask all the questions that we wanted to ask for the past four years.

1. Did you work with Putin to get rid of the Kurds...

2. Did you work with Putin to get rid of NATO...

3. Did Putin promise you money for undermining the U.S....

Add your own questions...

[brooklynite]

18. Um, when Trump said "no" to all three questions...

...how would you prove otherwise?

[Chainfire]

21. And these questions would be asked in the lockup at Gitmo?

If you gave Trump truth serum, he would just vanish.

[Chainfire]

22. And these questions would be asked in the lockup at Gitmo?

If you gave Trump truth serum, he would just vanish.

[abqtommy]

27. Ah, Gitmo! Easy access, no waiting! Let's make it so!

[ResistantAmerican17]

5. He's such a traditionalist when it comes to the law.... Shirley he wouldn't.

[lisa58]

7. Stop calling me Shirley 🤣

[ResistantAmerican17]

8. Well played!!

[lisa58]

9. 🥂

[KWR65]

6. They haven't been indicted for a crime, so there is no reason to pardon anyone.

Joe Biden is going to carry on and then take care of America.

[regnaD kciN]

10. Nixon was pardoned without being indicted...

[KWR65]

13. That was not tested in a court of law.

[tritsofme]

19. Because there was no serious question about the pardon's validity.

[TreasonousBastard]

11. Nobody really knows.

[regnaD kciN]

12. Basically, one of two things...

1) The incoming administration investigates and indicts him anyway. The validity of the pardon winds up in front of the current SCOTUS…and who knows wtf that crew would decide???

2) Not wanting the current Court to make a precedent-setting ruling on this, the incoming administration decides to not prosecute on federal charges and, instead, let the state of New York charge him with matters not covered by a federal pardon. The advantage of this is that it prevents the Court Clown Car from weighing in; the disadvantage is that it gives at least an implied de facto validity to a self-pardon.

We shall see how it plays out.

[tritsofme]

14. There would be nothing to challenge until/unless he faced federal indictment.

That would be the only way to test it.

[unblock]

15. In theory, here's what would have to happen

A pardon is legally meaningless until the pardonee introduces it in court. It's basically just a document that the pardoned holds until they feel the need to use it.

So a federal prosecutor would have to try to build a case against Donnie for a crime covered by the pardon. That case could proceed through investigation, indictment, trial, conviction, sentencing, and the carrying out of the sentence, with various appeals along the way.

At whatever stage donnie cares to use it, he could trot out the pardon and say it all stops not because I have a get out of jail free card. At that point, the court would agree or reject it as invalid, but either way, someone would appeal and eventually the Supreme Court would decide if self-pardons are ok or not.

Or, as they often do, they'd find done other basis on which to decide the particular case without delving into the self-pardon question, leaving it the question open.

[Girard442]

16. If he did and SCOTUS upheld it...

...there are still a lot of arrows in the quiver. State prosecutions, f’rinstance, with Biden’s DOJ lending assistance.

Or...haul him in front of Congress and let him lie his way into a perjury conviction or be held in contempt.

Just a matter of will.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. Nothing, unless he was indicted by a federal grand jury.

Nobody would have legal standing to object if he did it and that was the end of it. However, if a US attorney presented evidence of his crimes to a grand jury, he could, and probably would, use the pardon to try to quash the indictment. And then the whole thing would almost certainly work its way up to the Supreme Court.

[Kablooie]

20. If he has granted himself a pardon it may very well work even if illegal.

Because it may never be tested.

As mentioned above, it can't be challenged until he uses it to defend himself against a specific prosecution.
Then courts would have to decide if it was valid or not.
This would have to go up the chain and ultimately the Supreme Court would make the final determination.

If it is decided to be valid the court case ends right there.

The possibility that all the work to prepare a case could be thrown out before ever being presented is a possibility and would be a great discouragement for anyone who would like to start a prosecution.

So if he pardons himself it may work because no one would want the risk of challenging it.
Trump remains prosecution free.

[KentuckyWoman]

23. I wish he would pardon himself.

if he does the gates of hell open up and swallow him whole along with all his spawn.

Problem solved.

Seriously, I don't care ... just want him and his ilk to go away and never be a public figure again.
It won't happen of course, but that is my most fervent wish.

[GoCubsGo]

24. Why would he will admit to crimes, when he is not currently under threat of charges?

Because that is what a self-pardon would do. Why would anyone do that, unless they are certain something is in the works? Not to mention that we're talking about a guy who believes he'll be able to continue getting away with everything. I don't see him even considering it, unless he knows for sure he will eventually get indicted for something.

[rso]

25. Pardon

I think Donnie’s advisers are telling him that a self-pardon is too risky, as there would be no way to test its legality until he’s indicted, and if SCOTUS rules at that point that he cannot pardon himself, it’s too late and Donnie is screwed. So his safest bet is to resign before Jan. 20 and have Pence pardon him, assuming of course that Pence goes along.

[Blue Owl]

26. He can pardon himself

And then he can go fuck himself

[Rice4VP]

28. Since he doesn't think that he ever does anything wrong

I don’t see why he would pardon himself

[2naSalit]

29. It's uncertain and since it has never been tested in court...

I am pretty sure there will be a few, maybe more, who will test it in court this time around because we need to have accountability on this whole debacle of a presidential term and it needs to be known whether he can get away with it or not.

[mitch96]

30. Question.. If he pardons him self, it gets challenged and the SC says ok he cant be prosecuted

To get pardoned he has to admit to guilt? If so can that admission to guilt be used in say a NYS indictment? Or any other state...
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