Professor Jed Shugerman shares his expert opinion on the potential for President Trump to self-pardon in an article in The Hill.
Chatter about President Trump’s pardon plans is heating up, with top allies to the president publicly calling for him to preemptively grant clemency to confidants, family members and even himself.
In just 50 days, President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in as president, exposing Trump to a significant legal liability that comes when a president leaves the Oval Office.
Fox News host Sean Hannity, who has frequently had the president’s ear, urged Trump on Monday to issue a self-pardon, framing it as a way to protect himself from politically-motivated charges.
“The president out the door needs to pardon his whole family and himself because they want this witch-hunt to go on in perpetuity. They’re so full of rage and insanity against the president,” he said.
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Jed Shugerman, a law professor at Fordham University, said there’s little consensus about whether a self-pardon would be constitutional, and he was skeptical that the theory in DOJ’s 1974 memo about Nixon would be accepted by the conservative judges who would have the final say on the matter.
“I think anyone who says that this is clear is not being fair,” he said. “This is an open question.”
