Government,
Constitutional Law
Jan. 13, 2021
Presidential self-pardon would likely be unconstitutional
The tragic events of last week make even more salient the question of whether Donald Trump can pardon himself before leaving office on Jan. 20. There is no clear answer to that question because no prior president ever has tried to do that. But there is a strong argument that such a pardon would not and should not be constitutional.
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
The tragic events of last week make even more salient the question of whether Donald Trump can pardon himself before leaving office on Jan. 20. There is no clear answer to that question because no prior president ever has tried to do that. But there is a strong argument that such a pardon would not and should not be constitutional.
There is no doubt that Trump faces possible criminal liability. Overwhelming evidence exists that he en...
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