Can the President Pardon Himself?

As President Donald Trump prepares to leave office, can he give himself a presidential pardon? An expert panel focuses on the constitutional basis of the pardon power, its history and limits, the relationship between pardoning and impeachment, and the legal and political implications of an attempt by the president to self-pardon. The panelists are UVA Law professor John C. Harrison; Michigan State University law professor Brian Kalt; Stanford University professor Bernadette Meyler; and UVA Law professor Micah Schwartzman, director of the Karsh Center for Law and Democracy.

(University of Virginia School of Law, Jan. 15, 2021)

[Eluzian]

I think all of you are making answering this question more complicated than necessary. The origins of common law and the pardon power in other governments and so forth are just fine to go to for answers to Constitutional questions, but only when the answer can't clearly be found within the Constitution itself.

The Constitution must be interpreted as a whole to know the full meaning of any single Clause, and there are several important Clauses in the Constitution that effect answering this question. I include them in my answer to the question below:

The President is granted pardoning authority in all federal cases except on cases of Impeachment in Article 2, Section 2, Clause 1. The House of Representatives is granted the "sole Power of Impeachment" in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 5. Thr Senate is given "the sole Power to try all Impeachments" in Article 1, Section 3, Clause 6. The President is restricted from pardoning impeached individuals and in order for the Impeachment power to remain the "sole" power of the House of Representatives and the trying of Impeachments to remain the "sole" power of the Senate, the President would necessarily be restricted in being able to prevent Impeachments, truals, and removals as well. Any action that could interfere with the Impeachment process would assume some level of Impeachment Power which the President explicitly does not have, therefore, the President clearly has no Constitutional authority to self-pardon. It's also implied that Impeachment and removal from office would be done because of criminal acts, not political differences since some crimes such as bribery and treason are specifically mentioned in Article 2, Section 4. Also, he must remain able to be charged in a court of law after his removal from office according to Article 1, Section 3, Clause 7. If he has been pardoned, he can't legally be charged in a court of law, therefore, I conclude still, the President has no Constitutional self-pardon authority.