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1/7 This is precisely the problem. You are a guy who practiced state crim law (which is terrific, so did I in my youth). But you are not someone who has ever done the work of studying the pardon clause, its origins & how it relates to rest of constitution.... https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1342004022362968064
2/7 So the fact that you can spend an hour and produce 6 theories about invalidity of pardons is just as useful as if I spent an hour producing 6 theories about the Dormant Commerce Clause or the fine points of English property law in the 17th Century.
3/7 Folks casting doubt on your confident proclamations are not a cabal of "conservative lawyers," as you put it. I, for example, spent 3 yrs helping develop (with many others) the constitutional foundation for Trump's impeachment.
4/7 They are instead largely people who have done the hard, deep work you have not. See, e.g., my disquisition on why self pardons are probably unconstitutional. https://www.justsecurity.org/73539/why-a-self-pardon-is-not-constitutional/
5/7 See also my long article on presidential pardon power, pp. 42-47 addressing effect of impeachment exception on pardon clause. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3728908
6/7 Just because we find injustice in the world or we want the law to be different than it is doesn't mean the law can always be bent to our desires. Most importantly, if we want to move the law in the direction we'd like, we have to the hard intellectual work that requires...
7/7 You've built a large Twitter following, which is to your credit. But you misuse influence you've acquired when you simply bellow unsubstantiated theories into the ether as if they were true, and disparage the intellectual honesty of those who question your claims.
PS I should add there are number of smart folks who have made plausible arguments against validity of some pardons. Eg @jedshug (fiduciary duty), @tribelaw (due process/equal protection re pardon of contempts), @BrettschneiderC (impeachmnt clause). But they've done the work.
PS2 And no one really interested in pardons & presidential abuse of them should miss writing of @ProfBrianKalt. He talked about self-pardon before anyone back when he was law student & expanded his great arguments in later book. He really has done the work https://www.amazon.com/Constitutional-Cliffhangers-Legal-Presidents-Enemies/dp/0300123515
PS3 Finally, a true pardon aficionado should not miss the characteristically terrific work of the inimitable @RachelBarkow. Though she is rightly more focused on beneficial uses of pardons than their self-aggrandizing abuse. One example -- https://www.nyulawreview.org/issues/volume-90-number-3/clemency-and-presidential-administration-of-criminal-law/
