I don’t think pardons can apply to the future, sadly. trump could just tell his con-man FBI director to just fabricate evidence to create a new cases to mass arrest people.
I’m pretty sure they mean pardoning people for stuff that happened in the past that Trump has stated he wants to bring charges over.
Thing is, it only works that way if the incoming president feels constrained to abide by tradition and play by the tules. In reality, Trump can just change the rules and do what he wants.
In reality, fuck you! There are no rules for the oligarchs, because you live in a corporate dictatorship. What you gonna do about it peasant?
The idea would be to pre-emptively extend executive clemency to a list of current and former government officials for any possible crimes over a period of years, effectively short-circuiting the next president’s promised campaign of reprisals
I’ll believe it when it happens.
Democrats will debate it and mull it over until about January 20th, when they’ll sigh and regret that nothing can be done, but assure us that if Trump were to persecute his political opponents it would contravene gentlemanly norms, which would surely be very embarrassing to Trump.
Biden has a duty to protect us from all enemies, foreign or domestic. Print pardons like Covid relief checks. Sign your name.
Stupid question:
Would it be legal for biden to just pardon every US citizen preemptively, to set up a total legal anarchy?
While it’s a nice thought to prevent victims of political malice, this is a dangerous precedent, creating possibility of immunity for political bad actors by Trump in the future.