Obstructions

Lawrence Tribe, the preeminent expert in American constitutional law, wrote a very interesting column (link here) in the Financial Times yesterday.

He notes that pardons in America have historically been about mercy and forgiveness. Donald Trump's recent pardons, however, are about neither.

Instead, they are of two main varieties: those that are contemptibly immoral and those that are potentially criminal obstructions of justice.

Some pardons within the last ten days fall clearly into the first category: Trump's pardoning of war criminals who slaughtered innocent women and children and his pardoning of rampantly corrupt politicians. These are disgusting and reprehensible but not illegal.

But then comes the other category: pardoning those who aid in hiding Trump's potential crimes. Pardoning someone to obstruct justice is a crime. The fact that a President has pardoning power, like a governor, does not mean that using that pardon to obstruct justice is lawful, a common misunderstanding many people have.

Thus, Tribe argues, Trump's suspicious pardons of his cronies must be investigated. There is a long historical precedent for doing so.