The Ghost of James Madison

Seems like our nation is headed (dare I say...again) toward a Constitutional Crisis.  The President, in the midst of an investigation into his campaign for the White House, has started tweeting some rather surprising things about the scope of the Constitution and the office of the presidency, including the idea that the president cannot be prosecuted because he can pardon anyone he wants, including himself.  There's only one thing to do at a time like this.

Let me introduce you to some more members of my family.

The Irish side?  No, they deserve their own post.  Indeed, they deserve their own ballad, as I regale you with songs of the Hurley brothers and their bar, or the Irish immigrant you joined the army and volunteered to fight the Germans in World War I just to gain his citizenship.

Nope, we're going back to Virginia for this one.

I've already introduced you to my great-great-great Virginian grandfathers Joseph Pavy and John Self III.  But I've only just begun.

You see John Self was also married to Sarah "Sally" Pavy, who was the niece of Joseph Pavy.

Our families were very...um...close.

Anywhooo, Sally was the daughter of Joseph Pavy's brother, John Pavy, who was married to a woman named Jane.  Jane happened to be the daughter of a guy named Samuel Madison, who was the son of Ambrose Madison, who was the son of Henry Madison.  Henry was the brother of another Ambrose Madison, who happens to be the grandfather of James Madison, Jr.

You know, the father of the Constitution and the fourth president of United States.

This guy.

I know, it was a long walk.  So, I'm not descended from this guy, but at the very least, I should be getting an invite to the family reunion.

And at said family reunion, I think Jemmie and I will get along famously.  We're both a little on the nerdy side (the history books don't mention this, but he was a huge trekkie), and neither of us got our faces put on money (yet).  And I think he would have some interesting things to say on several recent subjects.  With the help of powers from beyond the grave, I will now summon the ghost of my relative, the man who created the form of government that we are still united under, President James Madison.

Yes?

Oh, hi.  Wasn't expecting this to work.  How's the afterlife?

Terrible.  Jefferson and Hamilton are still getting all the attention.

So, I don't know if you've been following what's been going on, or are even aware of Twitter, but--

Yeah, the President is claiming he has the power to pardon himself to avoid impeachment and prison.  This is what happens when you stop teaching ancient Greek in schools.

So, can he?

The idea is both ridiculous and repugnant.  Let me explain this in the simplest terms.  The Constitution is pretty clear on this matter.

I even blogged about it

The President cannot use his pardon power to save himself from impeachment.  Article II, Section 2 clearly says that the President has the Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.  End of story.

Why all the capital letters?

They looked nicer in cursive.

But he could still pardon himself to keep himself out of prison, right?

No.

But several legal scholars say he can.

Who are you going to believe?  Some random legal nerds, or the supreme legal nerd?  I'm the Ghost of James Freakin' Madison!

Look, we never intended to make the President immune from the law.  Rather, we allowed that the President cannot be prosecuted for criminal offenses while in office, but maintained that he be subject to such courts once out of office.  If he is impeached, and then removed from the presidency, the law will continue to apply to him and he can be prosecuted.

So he could pardon himself for that?

No. Because once he is removed from office, before he is tried in a criminal court, he's no longer President and has no pardon powers.

But he could pardon himself while still President, if he knew he was guilty and liking to be impeached, right?  Like Ford did for Nixon, before he could be brought up on charges, only he'd do it to himself.  That's at least possible, isn't it?

When I wrote the Constitution--

You didn't actually write the whole Constitution.  There was a convention.  Lot of people contributed.

I know what I did.  I was there.  Very well.  When I guided the structure of the Constitution...  Good enough?

I'll allow it.

I had two key concepts that I knew would make all the difference for this new republic.  The first was that sovereignty must not lie with the individuals states, or else true union would be impossible.  The power must lie in a strong centralized national government, a government which derives its power from the will of the people that it governs.

The second concepts is the no man should be King here.  No one is above the law.  All must be equal before the law, and the law, created by the people that are in turn governed by it, shall be the highest authority.  To give anyone the ability to pardon his own crimes would be to place him above the law, and that is unconstitutional.  To even suggest it is treason.  Only the most guilty, the most seditious, most power-hungry of evil men would even attempt such a thing.  Yet, he is welcome try.  I believe that my Constitution, with all its flaws and all its amendments, will stand the test of even that.

It's managed pretty well for 231 years.  Let the Pumpkinhead of the United States try to up-end it.