Presidential pardon: What does &quot;except in Cases of Impeachment&quot; mean?
<p><a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States_of_America#Section_2_2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Article II, Section 2, of the United States Constitution</a> establishes the presidential pardon power as follows.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The President shall ... have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This question is about the caveat "except in Cases of Impeachment".</p>

<p>Consider the following hypothetical sequence of events.</p>

<ol>
<li>Vice president Smith commits a federal crime.</li>
<li>Smith is impeached and removed from office for this crime.</li>
<li>President Miller pardons Smith for his crime.</li>
<li>Miller leaves office at the end of his term.</li>
<li>Smith is charged in federal court over the crime he committed (event #1).</li>
</ol>

<p>Now presumably Smith will argue that since he was pardoned, the charges should be thrown out. However, the prosecution can argue that the presidential pardon power does not apply in cases of impeachment and, since Smith was indeed impeached and removed from office because of this crime, it does not apply here.</p>

<p>My question: <strong>Would this argument succeed?</strong> That is, could Smith be convicted despite the pardon?</p>

<p>To be clear, the question is <em>not</em> whether Smith can remain vice president due to the pardon. It is only about whether he can face criminal consequences for the crime he was impeached and pardoned for.</p>

<p>Perhaps a less hypothetical version of the question would be "If Nixon had been impeached and removed from office (rather than resigned), would Ford's pardon still protect him from <em>criminal</em> prosecution?"</p>

<p>I don't expect that it is possible to definitively answer this question, since it is entirely hypothetical. However, I would like to know if there is any relevant precedent or legal analysis.</p>

<p>He will be thrown out of office (the "except in case of impeachment" clause means the president cannot immunize a person against impeachment); because he was pardoned by POTUS, he will <em>not</em> be charged of the crime that he was pardoned for – the prosecution does not get a chance to argue anything. They might however prosecute him for some other offense not covered by the pardon (if POTUS forgets a sweeping statement like "any and all crimes related to X").</p>

<p>I don't think a prosecutor is likely to try to argue that the Constitution means "the president cannot pardon a person who has been impeached".</p>

<p>It means 2 things.</p>
<p>First, impeachment can apply to department principals and judges.  So a President can't reverse their removal from office by pardoning them nor preempt their impeachment and impeachment trial by pardoning them.</p>
<p>Second, pardon removes <a href="https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardon-information-and-instructions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">most civil disabilities</a>(section 10) resulting from a criminal conviction.  That includes not being able to hold public office.  Impeachment may result in the impeached official's not being able to hold a public office.  This civil disability cannot be removed with a pardon.</p>

<p>A very odd thing about <strong>Article II, Section 2</strong> is that it's mostly about the military, indicating the framers had pardons for military offenses firmly in mind.</p>
<p>It's also worth noting that the pardon power only extends to Federal crimes, and many Federal statutes have a State equivalent.</p>
<hr />
<p>This is an area of the constitution that could certainly use a few more exceptions:</p>
<p><em>...except in Cases of Impeachment, excepting for himself, excepting in cases of acts committed during his own term...</em></p>
<p><a href="https://brycenesbitt.medium.com/preventing-corrupt-self-pardons-in-the-post-trump-era-5ea082b441a" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://brycenesbitt.medium.com/preventing-corrupt-self-pardons-in-the-post-trump-era-5ea082b441a</a></p>

united-states pardon impeachment