Was Ford's pardon of Nixon legal?
Does the President have the right to "pardon" an individual prior to adjudication of a particular set of charges?
Presidents do pardons all the time. You are correct, Ford pre-pardoned Nixon. All that did was tell whoever, "don't waste your time indicted Nixon, I will pardon whatever you go after him for."
That worked - no indictment. So yes - it's legal, only because no one challenged it. (And they are both dead now anyhow.)
It was legal. And the president has the right. Ford's activity was closely scrutinized when he did it. The pardon cost him the election for president.
Apparently.
No, it really wasn't. And many of us were VERY upset that he cut off all investigation, and that Nixon got off.
BUT, enough people just wanted to move on, so there wasn't enough political will do do anything about it.
- Obama deserves a severe punishment for repeating Richard Nixon's Water Gate Scandal. The only reason Nixon didn't get a? Harsh punishment is because he resigned & the next POTUS Gerald Ford Pardoned him in 1974 Trump Declassified a memo that shows Obama did something that was the same thing or worse then Richard Nixon's Water-gate Scandal
- How long before Trump gives Christy Ford a full and free pardon? She was badly used by the Democrats - - as a victim who's been victimized again, she deserves a chance to walk away from the whole episode
- How did Ford pardon Nixon when the US Constitution says presidents can't pardon for impeachment? "The President… Shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment." There's only one exception to pardons: impeachment. There's no exception that says "and also if the impeachment was not yours". So it's a fragrant violation of the US Constitution.
- Can a president in the USA pardon himself if he's charged with a crime? For example, if Trump is charged with a crime with all the stuff going on could he issue a pardon on himself? I remember hearing Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon though in that case Nixon was no longer president.