Is a presidential self pardon more likely to be valid if issued to a group instead of the president as an individual

Question

My understanding is, the presidential pardon power is based on this passage of the US constitution:

The President ... shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of impeachment.

I've read that one issue* with the uncertainty about the legality/validity of presidential self pardons is the word "grant" wasn't really used in the context of "grant myself" at the time the constitution was written.

But the pardon power can also apply to entire groups of people. And the president can belong to a group. Based on this, would a presidential pardon become more likely to be legal/valid if it applied to a group of people that included the president, instead of just to the individual? Even if the group was very small and the attempt rather transparent (e.g. "the Trump family", or "current and former Presidents of the United States of America")?

*I'm aware that this is not the only issue, and a possible answer is that the "grant" issue is dwarfed by more relevant legal arguments.

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 15 '21 at 19:32

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This article sums up the state of the law regarding presidential pardon power. In no case has the court ruled that there are people who are unpardonable. There is no question that a presidential pardon is only available for criminal offenses against the US (not civil contempt of court, but including criminal contempt). Presidential pardons do not require higher approval.

edited Jan 15 '21 at 19:32

feetwet

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answered Jan 08 '21 at 18:52

user6726

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score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 09 '21 at 05:23

There is no precedent for a Presidential self-pardon, and the White House counsel's office has opined that this is not permitted. There is debate within academic legal scholarship over whether a self-pardon is constitutional, although the majority view is that it is not. The fact that a pardon was made to a group in a blanket pardon of certain offenses would not change the analysis significantly.

A previous post at Law.SE analyzing the issue of Presidential self-pardons is here.

Is a presidential self pardon more likely to be valid if issued to a group instead of the president as an individual

2 Answers2