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This Supreme Court Case Could Impact The Mueller Probe And Boost Trump's Pardon Power
The double-jeopardy clause of the Cons ution says a person can't be prosecuted twice for the same crime.
But, in fact, for 170 years, the Supreme Court has said that separate sovereigns — state and federal governments — can do just that, because each sovereign government has separate laws and interests.
the argument produced an interesting debate among the justices about when it is appropriate to reverse a long line of decisions.
The dual sovereigns rule at issue in Thursday's case raised a red flag over the Mueller investigation, because
if such double prosecutions were barred, some of those already convicted in the Mueller probe could not be tried for the same crimes in state court if Trump were to pardon them, something that he has openly flirted with doing.
Thursday's arguments, however, strongly suggested
the court is unprepared to toss out the separate sovereigns rule.
At least five of the nine justices, from liberal to conservative, expressed clear doubts about overruling nearly two centuries of precedent.
Double prosecutions most often come in high-profile cases, frequently civil rights cases, when there is a sense that justice has not been done.
A get-out-of-jail-free card for Trump associates?
The case has attracted extra attention because of
Trump's comments that he could possibly pardon his onetime campaign chairman Paul Manafort and other Trump associates
who have been — or could be — convicted in prosecutions brought by Mueller.
If the Supreme Court were to bar dual prosecutions,
"there is a concern that a president of the United States could pardon an individual for all federal offenses" and
it would effectively be a "pardon for everything,"
These concerns, he noted, extend from the president down to governors or local prosecutors.
They could "bestow great gifts upon friends or family by rushing to prosecute them for certain crimes," Saltzburg pointed out, by obtaining minimal punishments.
That would be "cutting off" the ability of the federal government to bring prosecutions, for the same conduct, particularly in corruption cases.
some in liberal circles have speculated that one reason the Trump administration was in such a hurry to get Kavanaugh confirmed to the Supreme Court was his demonstrated affinity for presidential power.
However,
the Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court to preserve the status quo by upholding the separate sovereigns doctrine,
as are 36 states, including states that lean "red" and "blue" politically.
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/06/67344...rumps-pardon-p
