University of St. Thomas School of Law Professor Mark Osler spoke with NPR and Politico about recent presidential pardons, offering insight into the scope of executive clemency and its implications for justice and political accountability.
From NPR:
President Trump this week pardoned former aide Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and many others accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
It comes after recent clemency grants from Trump to former U.S. Rep. George Santos and an ex-CEO of a cryptocurrency exchange. ...
Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas, said it’s unclear whether the formal process is currently resulting in clemency grants in any significant numbers. “Right now we know that there’s still a mailbox, and that there are petitions going into that mailbox,” he said. “What we don’t know is what happens after that.”
Osler said concerns about the clemency application process – or lack thereof – predated Trump’s second term. He said Biden also issued pardons to political allies and personal connections he thought Trump may target, including his son Hunter. ...
From POLITICO:
... The limitation of the president’s pardon to federal crimes comes from the Constitution, which says the president “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States.”
“That’s a bright line. The executive of the federal system can only issue pardons for federal crimes and not the states,” said Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. “I think state court judges will swat them away.”
Trump has spent the first year of his second term trying to erase the stain of his failed attempt to subvert the 2020 election. That effort included a monthslong campaign to stoke distrust in the results with false claims of fraud; a bid to pressure state and local officials to block Joe Biden’s victory; a barrage of flimsy legal filings to challenge the results; and a last-ditch maneuver to lean on then-Vice President Mike Pence to use his unique role in the transfer of power to stave off Trump’s defeat. ...
