Neal Katyal on Preemptive Pardons: ‘Understandable Act’ Given What Trump’s Nominees at the DoJ Are Saying They’d Do

EXCERPT:

KATYAL: "So, Jen, there’s a legal answer and then there’s a pragmatic answer. The legal answer is, it’s absolutely okay. The Supreme Court in 1866 and the Garland case said that the president’s power — pardon power is unlimited and it extends to anything, including pardons before legal proceedings are taken. So, there’s a clear precedent on that. Now, the pragmatic question is more difficult. I’m not a fan of using pardons in this way generally, but here it’s an understandable act, given what Donald Trump’s nominees to the Justice Department have said they wanted to do. I mean, ordinarily, I trust the system. But these nominees are saying, in their own words, they want to break the system. And, you know, as you saw in government, as Andrew saw, as I saw, the best thing about serving in government is you see non-partisan expert decision-making. It's awesome. It’s inspiring. The last thing you want is for those folks to be afraid.”