Can the president pardon himself?
Even legal experts who argue that a president can’t pardon himself tend to agree that no one really knows for sure.
Perhaps the strongest argument for saying a self-pardon would be allowed is that the Constitution doesn’t explicitly prohibit it.
But there are several more circumstantial arguments that, collectively, make a strong case that a self-pardon would be impermissible, experts said.
For starters, the Constitution uses the word "grant," which ordinarily means giving to someone else, said Harold H. Bruff, an emeritus University of Colorado law professor. Going back to its English monarchical origins, a pardon has long been conceived as an act of mercy. Neither of these suggest something that can be done to oneself.
In addition, Bruff said that when the Constitution was being written, "a background value everywhere in the air was that no one should be a judge in their own cause." This notion, sometimes referred to in Latin as "nemo judex in causa sua," is a longstanding common-law principle, he said.
"People cannot prosecute, judge, or sit on juries in their own cases. Like a judge who would have to submit to the authority of another judge if he were being prosecuted, a president must seek a pardon from his successor," wrote Brian Kalt, a Michigan State University law professor who has studied pardons extensively.
That is what happened with President Richard Nixon. It was his successor, Gerald Ford, who ultimately pardoned him for Watergate-related crimes. It’s worth noting that a president who accepts a pardon would be seen as having acknowledged committing a crime, which runs the risk of supercharging the impeachment process.
Ultimately, though, no one knows for sure how any of this could play out until the Supreme Court rules. "There really is no answer to this question since it never has arisen," said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California law school.
Kobil agreed. "You never know until you have temerity to try," he said. "
Even Richard Nixon didn’t have the temerity to try it."