Political Science Essay: Examining Presidential Self-Pardon Powers

This political science essay delves into the contentious issue of whether a sitting US President possesses the authority to pardon themself. The paper begins by framing the research question and outlining the null and alternative hypotheses. It then explores the constitutional basis of presidential pardon power, referencing Article II, Section 2, and contrasting views from legal scholars and historical figures like Alexander Hamilton. The essay examines different types of investigation methods and data collection techniques, emphasizing the use of secondary research. Ethical considerations, including data privacy and acknowledgment of sources, are also addressed. A comprehensive literature review synthesizes various perspectives on presidential power and self-pardon, including arguments from scholars like Rebecca Roiphe, Daniel Hemel, and Andrew Novak. The essay concludes by summarizing the research timeline and highlighting the need for a thorough analysis of legislation and constitutional rules to determine the president's ability to pardon themself. The paper uses descriptive research methodology and focuses on analyzing relevant theories and concepts to answer the research question.

Running head: POLITICAL SCIENCE
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Research Question...........................................................................................................................2
Research Hypothesis........................................................................................................................3
Research Design:.............................................................................................................................4
Types of Investigation:................................................................................................................4
Data Collection Method:..............................................................................................................5
Ethical Issues:..............................................................................................................................5
Literature Review............................................................................................................................6
Timeline...........................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
On 4 June 2018, President Trump, in the midst of expanding open examination
originating from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's examination, tweeted that he had the full and
finish expert to pardon himself on the off chance that he decided to do as such. No American
president has ever tried the thought. Nor has a court has ever governed on the subject of whether
such an outrageous activity is permitted under the U.S. Constitution. The substantive law with
regards to the President's capacity seems clear. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution presents
pardon expert on the President for infringement of US bureaucratic law (not state laws)
expressing that the President has the "ability to concede respites and pardons for offenses against
the U.S., with the exception of in instances of indictment." truth be told, one of the Founding
Fathers of our nation, Alexander Hamilton, wrote in 1788 in Federalist Paper 74 that the
assembly ought not be associated with the pardon choice, rather "one man seems, by all
accounts, to be a more qualified gadget of the leniency of government than an assemblage of
men." That individual is the President.
Research Question
Research Questions are framed in order to find out the conclusion of the research that is
done. A particular issue or concern is taken into consideration which is to be investigated and
then the research questions are framed so that the answers can be retrieved through conclusion.
The framing of research question is important to be framed in the proper way so that the people
in general understand what is the problem that is addressed and the process in which the final
conclusion is obtained.

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The research Question in this paper is—“Can a sitting US President pardon himself?”
Research Hypothesis
Hypothesis is a propositional explanation to accept something or certain events without
the supporting experimental proof yet. Reason we utilize hypothesis is to set certain expected
situation, circumstance, foundation and so forth so further logical research or examination can be
left on. Finding distinctive researchers built up their speculations contrastingly which are subject
to the research issue, research objective(s), research question(s) and applied structure/research
demonstrate. A few researchers can build up their theories dependent on research questions while
some want to build up their speculations after they had drawn up the calculated system/research
display.
In this case,
Null Hypothesis—No the US President cannot pardon himself
Alternative hypothesis—Yes the US President can pardon himself.
It has monitored that the US presidential pardon is limited to the offenses and crimes that
has been done against the country. In the US constitution it has been mentioned that the president
has the power to grant pardons as well as reprieves that have been done against the United States.
However, it is noticeable that the Article II of the constitution mentions that the president will
not be able to grant forgiveness in cases of impeachment. Moreover, it has also been mentioned
by the court that the president can grant forgiveness, partial or conditional forgiveness,
communication of the sentences as well as conditional sentences.

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According to Choy and Theam, it can be said that the presidential power that has been
defined by the court mentions that the president of the United States shall have the power to
grant pardon to any citizen of the country. Hence, it can be said that being a citizen of the
country himself, the president hence has the authority to pardon himself as well. However, it is to
be mentioned that the crimes that can be pardoned by the president are only limited to the federal
crimes. In cases of impeachment the president will not have any power to pardon anyone as well
as himself.
In contrast to this, Flick, Uwe has opined that the legal advice that has been provided by
the then president Richard Nixon in the year 1974 opposes the idea. In the suggestion it has been
mentioned that the according to the fundamental rule no one can be a judge to his or her own
cases. Hence, it is evident that the US president shall not have the power to pardon himself.
Moreover, it is to be mentioned that in cases of any attempt of forgiving himself, the US
president may face severe opposition from his own legislation.
Research Design:
The research design primarily refers to the techniques that are to be applied in order to
collect data and gather information regarding the research question. In this regards, it can be said
that the data collection and analysis methods refer to the procedure that is helpful in conducting
the research in a more organized and effective way. According to Ledford, Jennifer and David,
the research design hence can be regarded as the structured procedure of the research.
Types of Investigation:
It can be noticed that are three major types of investigation that can be taken up by any
researcher. Exploratory, Hypothesis and Descriptive are the three types of investigation

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(Mackey, Alison, and Susan). In this context, it can be said that the research type that will be
most effective for this research will be descriptive research. It is to be noticed that in order to
understand if the president can pardon himself, analysis of relevant theories and concepts are to
be done. Hence, the descriptive research procedure will be the most effective one.
Data Collection Method:
In order to understand the power and ability of the US president of forgiving himself, a
thorough analysis has to be done. In this regard, the role of relevant theories and researches are
to be regarded as important. As mentioned by Panneerselvam, a research process requires
primary and secondary data. The primary data collection can be done by taking up surveys and
interviews. Whereas, the secondary data collection can be done by taking up helps from the
journals, books, articles and case studies.
It can be easily understood that in order to perform this research successfully, help of
secondary research is to be taken (Manning, Jennifer). To understand the access and limitations
of the US presidential power, theories and case studies are primarily to be referred.
Ethical Issues:
It is widely known that in order to perform a research, certain ethical issues are to be kept
in mind. As mentioned in the Data Protection Act, 1998, any researcher is bound to maintain the
privacy of the data that have still not been published (Roskin et al). Moreover, the researcher is
bound to acknowledge credits of the secondary sources that have helped in the research process.
In addition to this, it should be clearly mentioned that the purpose of the research is purely
academic. No logo, symbol or advertisement is to be portrayed in the research paper.

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Literature Review
According to Rebecca Roiphe & Bruce A. Green, it is extremely difficult to determine
how much power and control the sitting President has over the department of justice as well as
over the Attorney General. The article of the scholar is based on the investigation of the
President Trump’s campaign to Russia On the other hand, there are some other critics who claim
that the President has complete power to declare his decisions and dictate the federal prosecutors.
However, the article views the question of Presidential power from a historical context. It
highlights that the justice department is independent of the President (Roiphe and Green.).
Added to this, the American democratic discourse, has illuminated the value of the independent
prosecutions. The scholars are also on the debate of how much this concept has impacted the
framework of the American government. There are evidences that in the latter half of the 18th
century, the federal prosecution was free from the interruption of the White House. Since the
overlapping and vague nature of the lines of authority and the diffuse local nature of the federal
prosecutions, the laws of federations increased in complexity, the necessity of rationalizing and
consolidating the regulatory arm of the government came ultimately.
Hemel Daniel and Eric Posner suggest that the idea of whether an American President
can ever pardon himself had not been tested before. It had also not been tested that whether such
extreme action is accepted according to the U.S constitution. The fundamental rule says that
since on one can be a judge of himself, the President can also not pardon himself. As per the
views of some law professors such as Karina Tapia, the authority to be a judge of the federal
crimes does not imply that the President has the authority to judge and pardon his own
misconducts. The power, if given to the President would be going inconsistent with the laws of
the society and allow him to involve in the worst kind of federal crimes one can imagine such as

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treason, terrorism and many others. It is something, which must be avoided as much as possible.
Self –Pardon is something that can accelerate impeachment. Self-pardon is nothing but another
name of monarchy which is destructive. Andrew Novak argues that in the constitution of U. S
there is no directly addressed doctrine regarding the concept of Presidential self-pardon (Beard).
It is a sheer violation of the constitutional commitments. On a contrary note, there is another
perspective of considering the power of self-pardon of the President to be essential in order to
take care of the laws to be executed properly. However, this self-pardoning would obviously
incur the public wraths and outrages. The exercising of the power of self-pardon will also be
politically unwise and inconstant with the constitution.
Timeline
Activity Months
M
Nov
M
Dec
M
Jan
M
Feb
M
March
M
April
M
May
Topic Selection 
Collecting data from secondary
sources
 
Designing a layout of the research
work

Literature Review   
Forming the research plan  
Selecting appropriate research
methodologies
 
Analysis of collected data  

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Interpretation of collected data 
Concluding the Study 
Designing a rough draft  
Submitting the Final Work  
Timeline
(Created by Author)
Conclusion
It can be concluded that in order to perform the research the help of different journals and
articles are to be taken up. Moreover, the research procedure needs to take reference from the
previous researches as well as the newspaper articles. In order to understand the president’s
ability to pardon himself, a thorough analysis of the legislations and constitutional rules are
required. It is expected that the entire research work will be completed within a span of 7
months.

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Reference
Beard, Charles. An economic interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. Routledge,
2017.
Choy, Looi Theam. "The strengths and weaknesses of research methodology: Comparison and
complimentary between qualitative and quantitative approaches." IOSR Journal of
Humanities and Social Science 19, no. 4 (2014): 99-104.
Flick, Uwe. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research project.
Sage, 2015.
Hemel, Daniel J., and Eric A. Posner. "Presidential Obstruction of Justice." Calif. L. Rev. 106
(2018): 1277.
Ledford, Jennifer R., and David L. Gast. Single case research methodology: Applications in
special education and behavioral sciences. Routledge, 2018.
Mackey, Alison, and Susan M. Gass. Second language research: Methodology and design.
Routledge, 2015.
Manning, Jennifer E. "Membership of the 115th Congress: A profile." (2017).
Novak, Andrew. "Transparency and Comparative Executive Clemency: Global Lessons for
Pardon Reform in the United States." U. Mich. JL Reform 49 (2015): 817.
Panneerselvam, R. Research methodology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., 2014.
Roiphe, Rebecca, and Bruce A. Green. "Can the President Control the Department of Justice?"
(2018).

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Roskin, Michael G., Robert L. Cord, James A. Medeiros, and Walter S. Jones. Political science:
An introduction. Pearson, 2014.
Tapia, Karina. "An Analysis of US President Donald Trump's Administration Compared to
Previous Autocratic Regimes." (2018).