Trump declares autopen signed pardons void | Hacker News Reader

Trump declares autopen signed pardons void

theguardian.com

15 pointsmisja1119 comments

I'd like to see the system done away with. It doesn't make sense that buddies of the executive branch should be given special treatment... same goes for Trump & Co.

It has gotten wild with preemptive pardons and so on. That's not equal protection under the law ...

If the system was really a system where they reviewed exceptional cases of non connected folks and issued pardons I'd be ok with it, but it's not.

Having said that ... this declaration seems to be the purview of the courts not the executive branch.

Presuming we get to free and fair elections, I think this is going to have to be an outcome... but whether it can be passed while the country is so polarized, I don't know.

The alternative might be cycles of political violence and pardons.

The Trump performative TV signatures makes more sense now. It was preparing for this moment with "this is how signing orders look like - with a big ass pen".

Not wise. Trump now needs to be prepared for his pardons to be declared void. (All those guys pardoned for January 6? Back to jail.)

Yeah, I know, Trump used an actual pen. So? Prepare for the next president to have some equally lame reason to declare them void.

Exactly. If we get to elections again. A lot of Trump's actions seem to only make sense if you believe he will stay in power forever.

Well... During Biden, the Democrats were talking about eliminating the filibuster. That only makes sense if they believe they will stay in power forever (the "permanent Democratic majority" and all that). Both sides are prone to the delusion that, when they won, this time it's forever.

Now, Trump may be intending to make it be forever in a way that the others were not. I fear that, frankly. I see some signs that he's headed that way. But I also think (or maybe hope) that "the die is not yet cast"; that an irrevocable decision has not yet been made. We shall see.

These were the pardons that Biden gave out at literally the last moment, while standing next to President Trump at the inauguration on Jan 20.

Does that provide justification to Trump to declare them void?

It does not. A President cannot rescind a prior President's pardon. That would counteract the entire idea of clemency.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com