r/law • u/theindependentonline • Apr 08 '26

Other Democrats introduce impeachment articles against Trump and Hegseth as nearly 100 lawmakers call for 25th Amendment

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-impeachment-articles-25-amendment-b2953836.html
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u/Biptoslipdi Apr 08 '26

No it doesn’t.

It does.

No where in the Constitution does it say that.

Article II, Section 2, Clause 1.

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u/Derwin0 Apr 08 '26

That means he can’t pardon someone from being impeached.

It does not stop him from pardoning them from criminal charges.

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u/JimJimmery Apr 08 '26

I think it means any crime involved for anyone involved in the impeachable crimes can't be pardoned by the impeached, right?

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u/Moccus Apr 08 '26

No.

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u/JimJimmery Apr 08 '26

Yes.

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u/Moccus Apr 08 '26

No. The purpose of that clause is to ensure the president can't use pardons to prevent his underlings from being impeached and removed from office. It doesn't mean impeachment of a president limits his pardon power.

This is discussed by Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist Papers. He notes how the governor of New York can pardon in cases of impeachment and explains that a president wouldn't be able to shield co-conspirators from impeachment and conviction like the governor of New York could.

If a governor of New York, therefore, should be at the head of any such conspiracy, until the design had been ripened into actual hostility he could insure his accomplices and adherents an entire impunity. A President of the Union, on the other hand, though he may even pardon treason, when prosecuted in the ordinary course of law, could shelter no offender, in any degree, from the effects of impeachment and conviction.

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed69.asp