By Philip Drucker
One of the greatest joys of my life is participating in the incredibly frustrating but ultimately rewarding “science” of Constitutional analysis, interpretation and debate. There are so many interesting, often enjoyable moments of intellectual (or not) sparring I can still recall that, occasionally produced nothing short of an illuminating moment or two on what it means to live in and be part of a country born into liberty (very rare) and, I am proud to say, based on recent events, one that intends to stay that way, the way being a land of the free, and yes indeed, the home of the brave.
I have found the best Con Law discussions usually but not always begin with a careful, non-partisan reading of the black letters of the Constitution itself while being mindful it was written by enlightened, intellectually capable and reasonable free men who wanted a country of their own, free from the suffocating grip of colonialism, or, at least one with a better tax base, thrown in somewhere in between the parts about life, liberty, equality and justice for all.
The Constitution is one part owner’s manual regarding the moving pieces and interplay of a tripartite system in a functional context, carefully tying in the concomitant powers, placed in our representatives, with the ultimate goal of protecting at all cost, the right of self-determination of, by and for We, the People.
Know this. We are not a people who consent to be ruled by a monarch. We had one mad king already, we got rid of old King George III, and we are about to get rid of another one, King Don the Con, whose blind ambition costing no less than a quarter of a million of his subject’s lives while watching the economy fall apart and all the while fiddling in the background while We, the People crashed, burned and died.
If there was ever any legitimate doubt Trump was never the US President in anything more than a hollow Papier-Mache turnip best used as a piñata, but unfortunately filled with something not in any way resembling candy, consider this. No true possessor of the Oval Office who at least tried to honor and perform their executive duties and obligations to the Constitution would ever feel the need to consider much less find themselves in a position where the only way to avoid certain time behind bars is to pardon themselves.
Yet the ability to self-pardon oneself along with several members of his wholly unholy, immoral, bent and breathtakingly sickening and degenerate crime family would be every tyrant’s wettest of wet dreams come true. Thrown in the power pardon the entire circus, mostly made of court jesters, aka associates, cronies, and sycophants, besties for life, right? A wicked, disgraceful ace card up their corrupt to the Nth degree white collar, black heart, orange stained, dirty, sick and twisted with innocent blood sleeve. This is where we are at with the Pardon Power found in Article II, Section II, Clause I;
“The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” (emphasis added)
The most sacred of all presidential powers being thrown into the cauldron of calculated misery and misinformation of the past four years. I posit it is here where the most serious constitutional crisis of our time currently resides, and it is here where we must make our stand, for once and for all, unless all be lost, possibly forever.
We knew it was coming and now it is here. The Pardon Power, the right to do so reserved in the Constitution to the President, and the President alone. The righter of wrongs and henceforth the last resort of the innocent, reduced to nothing more than fodder for bribery and avoiding punishment for those who rightfully deserve to be punished.
Arguably, the black letter words of the Pardon Power could have been better written to reflect the power of a president elected by We, the People participating in a democratic republic. For instance, such a president should not have the power to “grant” a pardon to anyone for anything.
This is not to say there is evidence of an intent on the Founders’ part to vest the pardon Power in a single entity. In Federalist 74, Alexander Hamilton argued;
“The sense of responsibility is always strongest, in proportion as it is undivided,” and, “for that reason, the broad constitutional power to pardon was best vested in “a single man,” the president, who could be expected to wield it with “scrupulousness and caution.”
When you are done laughing, hear me out. For this is the point I am trying to make. If these were the words of limitation placed upon the Pardon Power, Trump COULD NOT pardon himself. He would have to “arrange” for his pardon by a person, or persons, perhaps a panel comprised of appropriate government powers and prestige.
However, I would counter with this is a restriction to a person and not a carte blanch get out of jail free extension of power beyond a reasonable interpretation of the pardon power within established Constitutional limitations upon all powers in general. I’m thinking in particular, that all powers vested must yield to limitations in the public interest.
As an integral part of a much larger government entity, our president should “arrange” for a pardon to be given to those who deserve it, because they are innocent. Period. I can think of no other reasonable justification for allowing anyone to go free for their bad acts perpetrated against our Constitution, aka the highest and ultimate law of the land. Full stop.
The punch line being without the power to pardon himself, the president could not as a matter of Constitutional law or interpretation place himself or maybe soon, herself above the law. Let me make myself clear. To preserve the integrity of not men, but laws, no one in government can place, or be placed above the law.
Equality in the form of liberty and justice for all will be nothing more than a quaint and soon to be forgotten myth attributed to a bunch of well-meaning but ultimately proven wrong 16th Century philosophers who believed in the good intentions of mankind, but underestimated the effects of avarice, greed and yes, ultimate power upon those chosen to lead, but when the time came to lead, to carry out the will of the people, guided by the wisdom inherent in the time-honored traditions bestowed upon us by the Founding Fathers in the form of our Constitution, did not.
Now, we have a choice. To free, or not to free, that is the question. Whether it is nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outright dereliction of duty for the illusions of power and false allure of gold. We will not heal by keeping an open wound bleeding. While we continue to die due to incompetence in the face of a raging epidemic. While insider trading become a “perk” of government service. While we watch the middle class and the American dream continue to slip away.
Yes, it is that serious. Trump has already abused the trust placed in him by the American electorate and the electoral college. But this one last and final abuse of power, of the Pardon Power, to release the innocent from the shackles of unfair and unjust punishment used to benefit the very person who is at the core of so much suffering by so many for personal gain? That my friends, I say unto thee, is the Jenga stick that will break our collective American backs.
I never did say Constitutional analysis was all fun and games, now did I? Here, the far from final analysis dictates paradise lost will be purgatory gained with the only true question being which dictator, each one more unresponsive to the will of the people and brutal in their repressive tactics will be the one who finally calls “Jenga!” America will be in ruin, with no one left to pick up the pieces.
In the name of democracy, we must continue to remain vigilant and resist, fighting until we reclaim the gifts entrusted to us, those natural rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, never to be usurped by a court jester who in the name of all that is insipid if not evil, unworthy and unholy, on his way out, would, as it turned out, by pardoning himself, placed himself above the law, and hence, turned himself for all intents and purposes while sending out a clear signal to those who would follow in his cloven footsteps, into a king.
For the love of God and all of his children, we must not let this happen. We can’t and we won’t. I won’t not without a fight. I, resist. You?
Like My Blog? Buy My Book?
Comments