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The US Constitution grants the President the power to pardon, except in cases of impeachment. Self-forgiveness is not restricted by law, but international law can still prosecute. No president has pardoned themselves, but some have been convicted of crimes. The debate continues on whether the right to pardon should be rewritten.
The right to a pardon is an authority vested in the President of the United States (POTUS) by the United States Constitution in Article II, Section 2. This section specifically states that the POTUS “shall have the power to grant pardons and pardons for offenses against United States, except in case of impeachment”. Essentially, the only way presidential pardons are restricted by the constitution is if the incumbent president is impeached. Self-forgiveness is not restricted by law, and according to the Supreme Court’s interpretation, a president might have the right to forgive himself not only for crimes he has committed, but also for crimes he is not aware of. been accused yet. So far, no president has actually forgiven himself for committing crimes or for actions that could later be considered crimes.
Failure to prosecute a president who has been perceived to have committed crimes, but has not been charged with those crimes means that the United States would have no jurisdiction to convict the president of crimes if he had exercised his right to pardon himself. However, in circumstances where international law is violated, a presidential pardon has no relevance. The only possible solution to convict a president of, say, war crimes, would be for the new president to extradite the former president to the country where war crimes are believed to have been committed. The fact that a particular POTUS would have pardoned himself would not carry much weight in the prosecution by the World Court, or another country’s court.
There have been suggestions in the past that a specific POTUS would exercise the right to forgive itself. No president has done so to date, although some presidents have been convicted of felonies and could have exercised the right. When President Ford took office, he pardoned President Nixon, not exactly a popular move. Since Nixon was not impeached but instead resigned, one of his last acts could have been a self-pardon. Likewise, President Clinton could have pardoned himself for perjury, but he chose not to. If a president commits or is accused of a crime while in office, the next president often grants a pardon, although this may not always be a popular decision.
Typically, a president could pardon himself and, according to most interpretations, could pardon himself before being charged with a crime. This has led to the argument that the right to pardon should be shortened or rewritten, to prevent a president from doing so, and thus avoid being prosecuted for crimes when he leaves office. Others argue that the circumstances in which a pardon would be abused in this way are so rare that it isn’t worth changing the law, and that presidents who have had the opportunity to pardon themselves in the past have not done so.
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