WEBVTT - How Do Presidential Pardons Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren bog Obam here. In late November, then President Donald J.

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<v Speaker 1>Trump announced on Twitter quote, it is my great honor

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<v Speaker 1>to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted

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<v Speaker 1>a full pardon. Flynn, transformer National Security advisor, had been

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<v Speaker 1>the only member of the Trump administration to be charged

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<v Speaker 1>with a crime as part of the investigation by Special

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<v Speaker 1>Counsel Robert Muller into Russian interference in the presidential campaign

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<v Speaker 1>and the question of whether there had been links to

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<v Speaker 1>or coordination with the Trump campaign. Flynn pled guilty to

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<v Speaker 1>align to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian

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<v Speaker 1>ambassador and cooperated with prosecutors, but then changed his mind

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<v Speaker 1>and tried to withdraw his plea. Trump's pardon of Flynn

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<v Speaker 1>drew fire from critics and Congress who saw it as

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<v Speaker 1>an effort by Trump to erase the investigation into his

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<v Speaker 1>campaign's connection with Russia, which Trump angrily had denounced as

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<v Speaker 1>a hoax. The outcry increased after the White House released

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<v Speaker 1>the specifics of the pardon, which absolved Flynn of not

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<v Speaker 1>just the original charges, but also of any and all

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<v Speaker 1>possible offenses within the investigatory authority or jurisdiction of the

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<v Speaker 1>special counsel. One legal expert, Margaret Love, a former pardon

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<v Speaker 1>attorney for presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton,

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<v Speaker 1>told Politico that Trump's pardon of Flynn was the most

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<v Speaker 1>sweeping in history, even more so than President Gerald ford

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<v Speaker 1>pardon of his predecessor Richard Nixon for any crimes he

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<v Speaker 1>might have committed during Watergate, But the critics concerns didn't

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<v Speaker 1>make any difference. Trump, like every president before him, had

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<v Speaker 1>the unique ability to override the federal justice system, release

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<v Speaker 1>anyone he chose from paying a finer sentence, and return

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<v Speaker 1>a person to the state of innocence they had before

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<v Speaker 1>they ever committed a crime. The President isn't required to

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<v Speaker 1>explain or justify this action to view me, Congress, or

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<v Speaker 1>anyone else for that matter. The power to pardon is

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<v Speaker 1>left solely to the discretion of the President and cannot

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<v Speaker 1>be reviewed or overturned by any of the other branches

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<v Speaker 1>of government. So where does this power come from, Why

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<v Speaker 1>did it make it into the U s Constitution, What

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<v Speaker 1>does it do, and how exactly does it work. The

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<v Speaker 1>presidential pardon is based on the royal prerogative of English kings,

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<v Speaker 1>which gave the king the ability to overturn any sentence. Originally,

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<v Speaker 1>the king's prerogative existed without any limitations attached to it,

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<v Speaker 1>but during the reign of King Charles the Second of

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen sixty two sixty five, the English Parliament managed to

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<v Speaker 1>institute the single rule that impeachment was excluded from the

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<v Speaker 1>pardon power. This rule lives on today. When the Founding

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<v Speaker 1>Fathers were developing the laws for the United States the

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<v Speaker 1>late eighteenth century, the power to pardon almost didn't make

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<v Speaker 1>it into the Constitution. In fact, it was barely considered.

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<v Speaker 1>Two plans for framing the Constitution, the Virginia Plan and

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<v Speaker 1>the New Jersey Plan, did not include the power to pardon.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the Virginia Plans backers, George Mason, believed it

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<v Speaker 1>was a mistake to grant such power to a single person,

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<v Speaker 1>having just revolted against King George the Third, whom many

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<v Speaker 1>Americans considered a tyrannical king. Many of Mason's fellow framers

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<v Speaker 1>agreed with him, but Alexander Hamilton's, who believed in a large, powerful,

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<v Speaker 1>centralized federal government made up of the elite thinkers of

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<v Speaker 1>the Nation was able to bring the other framers of

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<v Speaker 1>the U. S. Constitution around to his way of thinking.

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<v Speaker 1>In number seventy four of his Federalist papers, Hamilton's extolled

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<v Speaker 1>the value of a pardoning power. He wrote, in seasons

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<v Speaker 1>of insurrection or rebellion, there are often critical moments when

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<v Speaker 1>a well timed offer of pardon to the insurgents or

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<v Speaker 1>rebels may restore the tranquility of the commonwealth, and which,

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<v Speaker 1>if suffered to pass an imp proved, it may never

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<v Speaker 1>be possible afterwards to recall Hamilton's and eventually the other

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<v Speaker 1>framers saw the value of investing in the president the

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<v Speaker 1>ability to, at a moment's notice, and without the consent

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<v Speaker 1>of any other branch of government, grant reprieves to groups

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<v Speaker 1>during periods of national crisis. It was reasoned that some

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<v Speaker 1>crises could be allayed or overcome if the belligerents could

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<v Speaker 1>be given a deal for giving them for their trespasses,

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<v Speaker 1>almost no sooner than the ink on the Constitution was dry.

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<v Speaker 1>This ability was needed when farmers in Pennsylvania revolted in

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen ninety four against federal taxes levied on their corn crops.

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<v Speaker 1>The whiskey rebellion was born. President George Washington used the

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<v Speaker 1>power to pardon for the first time in the United

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<v Speaker 1>States history to forgive the revolting farmers for their insurrection

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<v Speaker 1>against the young Nation. The action worked, and the rebellion

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<v Speaker 1>was quieted. The pardon has since been used in this

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<v Speaker 1>original intent several times. Andrew Johnson used the pardon to

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<v Speaker 1>redeem Confederate soldiers after the Civil War and to help

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<v Speaker 1>end the Vietnam era. President Jimmy Carter offered a blanket

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<v Speaker 1>pardon to any American who had dodged the draft during

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<v Speaker 1>the Vietnam War. There have been cases where Congress has

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<v Speaker 1>considered introducing bills that limit the president's pardon power or

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<v Speaker 1>allow oversight of pardons. Every last one of these bills

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<v Speaker 1>has failed. Why Because the president's power to pardon is

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<v Speaker 1>guaranteed by the Constitution. It's in the actual original document,

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<v Speaker 1>not just the Bill of Rights, and as such, the

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<v Speaker 1>judicial branch has viewed it as being protected. So what

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<v Speaker 1>does this power involve? A person who is convicted of

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<v Speaker 1>a federal felony may have to go to prison or

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<v Speaker 1>pay a fine, but that's not all. They lose certain

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<v Speaker 1>civil liberties, the right to vote, serve on a jury

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<v Speaker 1>own a firearm. But Article to Section two of the U.

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<v Speaker 1>S Constitution gives the president odd power to provide relief

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<v Speaker 1>called clemency from all of those punishments. There are five

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<v Speaker 1>types of clemency, from temporary postponement to full pardon. People

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<v Speaker 1>convicted of federal crimes can request clemency through the Department

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<v Speaker 1>of Justice, or the sitting president can go outside of

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<v Speaker 1>that system. In the case Ship versus Read, the Supreme

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<v Speaker 1>Court decreed that quote the pardoning power is an enumerated

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<v Speaker 1>power of the Constitution and that it's limitations, if any,

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<v Speaker 1>must be found in the Constitution itself. While a president's

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<v Speaker 1>power to pardon is broad, it's not completely unlimited. For

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<v Speaker 1>one thing, presidents can only pardon people for federal crimes,

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<v Speaker 1>not state or local offenses. Additionally, a pardon can't be

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<v Speaker 1>used to overturn a judgment in a civil lawsuit. Most importantly,

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<v Speaker 1>the impeachment process, which can be used to remove presidents,

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<v Speaker 1>members of Congress, and federal judges office, is excluded from

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<v Speaker 1>the scope of the president's pardon power. And that's why

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<v Speaker 1>even though former President Trump said that he had the

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<v Speaker 1>absolute right to pardon himself legal scholars largely disagreed, though

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<v Speaker 1>the question wound up being moot as he left office

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<v Speaker 1>without attempting it. However, he did grant clemency to a

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and forty three people on his last day in office,

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<v Speaker 1>including his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who had been

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<v Speaker 1>charged with using hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations

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<v Speaker 1>to Trump's We Build the Wall campaign for personal expenses.

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<v Speaker 1>Bannon will now not face a trial. This brings the

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<v Speaker 1>total number of times Trump used his power of executive

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<v Speaker 1>pardon to over two hundred and thirty five, though that's

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<v Speaker 1>actually on the relatively low end of the scale, and

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<v Speaker 1>it's not uncommon to see a rash of clemency during

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<v Speaker 1>a president's final days in office. Franklin D. Roosevelt granted

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<v Speaker 1>the most pardons of any president three thousand, six hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and eighty seven during his three and off terms in office,

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<v Speaker 1>many of them for offenses occurred during World War One.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by Patrick Jake Kaiger and produced

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<v Speaker 1>by Tyler Clang. For more on listen lots of other topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit how Stuff Works dot com. Brain Stuff is a

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