President Biden Might Grant Blanket Pardons to Trump’s Opponents

            The President of the United States of America has the power to pardon anyone for their federal crimes. Therefore, we can expect that the outgoing president will pardon several people right before the end of his term in office. Nowadays, presidential pardons are used as a political tool. For instance, President Biden pardoned his son for his federal crimes. In addition, President Biden intends to grant pre-emptive pardons to Trump’s political enemies. The list of people being granted pre-emptive pardons by the President could include former Representative Liz Cheney, a vocal anti-Trump critic, Senator Adam Schiff, the lead Trump impeachment manager, Dr Anthony Fauci, a COVID 19 advisor and Vice President Kamala Harris. Nevertheless, these blanket pardons for top critics of Trump could be seen as unfairly using presidential powers for political purposes.

            To begin with, President Biden worries that Cheney, Schiff, and Fauci may be targeted by the incoming president. Biden fears that some people might be wrongly accused of crimes by the Trump administration.  Trump claimed that there might be retribution for people who had been wronged. Thus, Biden is considering pre-emptive pardons for several past and current enemies of Trump. These blanket pardons might be issued for any elected officials who angered Trump and his followers.  The Biden administration wants to prevent any kind of revenge from President Trump. Moreover, the U.S. Constitution grants the president the power to pardon anyone committing a federal crime. The recipients of these executive clemency orders must accept the pardon for it to take effect. Still, the acceptance of a pardon does not constitute a legal confession of guilt.

Furthermore, Trump threatened several politicians during his campaign that he would like to see some of his opponents arrested. He told the media that these people were ¨the enemy within¨. In November, Trump threatened former Representative Liz Cheney by saying: “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her…Okay, let’s see how she feels about it. You know when the guns are trained on her face — you know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building,” Therefore, Trump might try to appoint an Attorney General to charge former Rep. Liz Cheney for crimes she might not have committed. Thus, Trump could weaponize the Justice System for his own benefit.

Finally, President Biden might grant pre-emptive pardons to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney, and Adam Schiff. These people have never been charged with any crime against the United States; thus, issuing blanket pardons to people who have never been accused of any crime would be new territory for the U.S. legal system. The U.S. Constitution allows the President to grant a pardon to anyone regardless of whether the person has been charged or not with a crime; still, these presidential acts could be considered an abuse of power. American University political professor Jeffrey Crouch told CBC in December 2024: "The clemency power was intended to give presidents the ability to dispense mercy and defuse societal tensions, such as a war or rebellion…What we are talking about now could lead to the weaponization of clemency. This is not what the framers had in mind," This means the issuance of presidential pardons must be used for the overall good of American society such as fixing: defusing social tensions or showing clemency to a repentant convict who is ready to reintegrate into society. Therefore, presidential pardons have nothing to do with politics, but they must be used for the most virtuous and honourable reasons.

December 22, 2024