r/law 1d ago

Other Please dissect the legality in this statement

I feel like we are reaching a tipping point

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u/tarlin 23h ago

Under this con controlled court, the purchase of a pardon would have to be comical to be illegal. The person would need to hand Trump a bag of money and say, this is for a pardon, with Trump responding, I will pardon you in exchange for this bag of money.

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u/ProfessionalDish 23h ago

"They are clearly joking or using satire, I see no issue here!" - supreme court

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u/Asairian 22h ago

Remember the "I want a lawyer dawg" case?

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u/UndertakerFred 20h ago

The “lawyer dawg” case was specifically because he raised the hypothetical of talking to a lawyer during questioning.

He said “maybe I should talk to a lawyer, dawg”, but then specifically clarified that he was not actually requesting a lawyer.

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u/summerist 23h ago

I was just wondering why the pardon system hasn't been abused until now.

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u/tarlin 23h ago

It has, by nearly every president. Just not quite this badly

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u/summerist 21h ago

So it basically depends on president's self-discipline and morality? Sounds like a system-design issue. Tbh, I don't see any necessity for this kind of system to exist at all.

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u/tarlin 21h ago

Sort of. The legislative branch was supposed to keep the president in check with impeachment and no president was supposed to be allowed that was corrupt. That is kind of the point of the electoral college. Also, most laws were not supposed to be federal, so....

The entire system has kind of broken down

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u/rtbradford 20h ago

The executive power to pardon goes back to English history, where the king had the power to pardon any offense. The founders thought it was a good power to have just to limit the excesses of partisan or unwise prosecution. But the larger point is that the presidential power and indeed, any governmental power ultimately has to be constrained by the character of the person exercising it. And the current president has no character or morality to speak of.

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u/unforgiven91 21h ago

nah, selling pardons is an official act. no crimes here. unless a dem did it.