February 2021
Donald Trump?s Legacy
Toward the end of each president?s term of office, he and historians begin to think of a presidential legacy. Presidents leave the White House with portraits of themselves and their spouses, a record of accomplishment, and the accumulation of papers and documents to endow to that president?s library.
None of this accompanies the departure of Donald J. Trump. He leaves in disgrace, increasingly isolated, and with most of the weapons at his disposal revoked: his megaphone of more...
The Possible Great Leap Forward
George Packer, a brilliant staff writer at The Atlantic magazine was one of the essayists in the October issue, devoted to the theme of "Making America Again." The Atlantic has been extremely astute in predicting the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election, better than any of the other speculations I have seen.
He begins: "The country is at a low point---our civic bonds frayed, our politics toxic. But we may be on the cusp of an era of radical reform that advances citize more...
December 2020
Pardon Me. Trump?s Gambit.
Most scholars argue that presidents cannot pardon themselves. More to the point, even if they did, such a move would be incredibly risky and likely to ignite a constitutional crisis in the United States.
Jonathan Turley, a professor of public interest law at George Washington University, wrote in The Washington Post:
"Such an act would make the White House look like the Bada Bing Club. After a self-pardon, Trump could wipe out the Islamic State, trigger an e more...
July 2020
Pardon Me! Defying Rule of Law
The daily deliberate attack on the traditions of the Rule of Law come with speed as the next election looms. Behaviors that in former years would have become enormous scandals are now commonplace, and most people do not react. However, the latest commutation of a criminal, Roger Stone, seems to have been the final straw. The President finds himself alone, using his usual complaint: "My allies are treated unfairly!"
Stone was convicted in a jury trial, the evidence meticul more...
Presidential "Pardons"
The power to pardon felons is vested in the Constitution. It is the one inheritance from the history of monarchy that we have, but unlike kings with unlimited rights to pardon, presidents have this power only for federal offences. Pardoning is enmeshed in norms. It has been understood that a president should not pardon someone for his own political motives. Compassion or policy motives were the usual reasons that a president pardoned a convict.
President Obama, for example, addres more...
President Obama, for example, addres more...