If Clinton were indicted and became president, she probably could pardon herself, according to Banzhaf. And if she did that, and someone wanted to challenge the pardon, it is doubtful any potential plaintiff would have standing to sue, he says.
Judge Richard Posner of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals signaled agreement with that view in a 1999 book about the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Posner wrote that “It has generally been inferred from the breadth of the constitutional language that the president can indeed pardon himself.” The Wall Street Journal Law Blog noted Posner’s stand.
Posner added that it was unlikely the Supreme Court at that time would be “bold enough, in the teeth of the constitutional language, to read into the pardon clause an exception for self-pardoning. Unlikely, but not inconceivable.”
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/does_presidents_pardon_authority_extend_to_a_self_pardon/
Judge Richard Posner of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals signaled agreement with that view in a 1999 book about the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Posner wrote that “It has generally been inferred from the breadth of the constitutional language that the president can indeed pardon himself.” The Wall Street Journal Law Blog noted Posner’s stand.
Posner added that it was unlikely the Supreme Court at that time would be “bold enough, in the teeth of the constitutional language, to read into the pardon clause an exception for self-pardoning. Unlikely, but not inconceivable.”
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/does_presidents_pardon_authority_extend_to_a_self_pardon/
