ourselves: Acceptance of a pardon IS an implied admission of guilt! And that is not just partisan argument–that is adjudicated legal precedent.
The Supreme Court has several times upheld defendants’ decisions to refuse pardons. When bank robber George Wilson declined to plead a pardon from President Andrew Jackson, the Supreme Court held in 1833 that the pardon was not effective (United States v. Wilson). When New York Tribune editor George Burdick refused to accept a pardon from President Woodrow Wilson and instead insisted upon his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in an investigation into leaks to the press from the Treasury Department, the Supreme Court likewise affirmed his ability to do so (Burdick v. United States).
Acceptance of a pardon has often been seen as an admission of guilt. The Court in Burdick acknowledged as much, noting the “confession of guilt implied in the acceptance of a pardon.” This admission of guilt may have several dimensions. The most straightforward imputes responsibility for the underlying crime to the person pardoned. [emphasis added]
I really don’t think Biden can legally issue a non-specific, blanket pardon to a non-charged person.
But none have been formally charged with a crime, making these pardons unprecedented. By issuing pardons to individuals who have not been formally accused, charged, or investigated, Biden has shattered longstanding norms of presidential clemency. He justified these actions by citing “exceptional circumstances,” but this sets a perilous precedent.
So how can there be a pardon in the absence of charges? That makes literally no sense! I think that these pardons are legally null and void because there are no charges. The alternative would be to give the Chief Executive unlimited lawMAKING powers–a result obviously never intended or even envisioned by the founding fathers.
The presidential pardon power was never intended to be used as a tool for granting preemptive pardons to political allies or to shield individuals from accountability before they even face trial. The Founding Fathers designed the pardon power to offer mercy in specific, individual cases — usually after conviction and often with an eye toward correcting injustices or promoting national healing. Joe Biden abused that power with the blanket pardon of his son and the mass commutations of sentences of thousands.