Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

France tries to shed its rude reputation ahead of the Olympics

Don’t be a jerk at the airport: A guide for headphones

The new cure-all for vacation excess: the IV drip 

RFK Jr’s ‘history lesson’ on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine flunks the fact test

No, posting is not better political activism than talking to voters

The legal — and political — stakes of Stormy Daniels on the stand

Postal worker finds WWII-era letters, drives 5 hours to deliver them

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

Teen grabs wheel when driver passes out and school bus veers into traffic

The Trump-Biden battle over the 2017 tax cut

That time football legend, rig-driving eligible bachelor Biden was arrested

How Trump’s allies amplify his Truth Social messages to the wider world

Indy Star bars columnist from Caitlin Clark’s games after awkward exchange

The Washington Post wins three Pulitzer Prizes

Commerce Department revokes more export licenses to China’s Huawei

Substack courts TikTokers with new ‘creators’ program

Indiana primary updates: Mike Braun wins Republican governor race

In photos: The scene after a deadly tornado strikes Oklahoma

Fashion previews, protests, parties: The scene surrounding the Met Gala

Middle East conflict live updates: Israel says it has reopened key aid crossing; U.S. paused bomb shipments to Israel

U.S. signals optimism for Gaza cease-fire as Israel moves into Rafah 

The FTC’s noncompete clause rule goes too far

The next global crisis could come from the sun. We should prepare now.

Russia is using toxic chemical weapons, wrecking a ban it helped create

Nats go over .500 the hard way by beating the O’s and Corbin Burnes

A look at what has changed since the Nationals were last above .500

Baseball can crush rookies. Why hasn’t it crushed Trey Lipscomb?

Carolyn Hax: Family pushes siblings to ‘make amends’ after their mother’s death

Miss Manners: I’m offended by a golfer’s skirt choice

Ask Amy: I want to be closer with my brother. He never reaches out to me.

US-VOTE-POLITICS-ECONOMY-BIDEN

Paul Rosenzweig is a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, a policy research organization and a former Whitewater prosecutor under Kenneth W. Starr. Justin Florence is the legal director of Protect Democracy and a former White House associate counsel in the Obama administration.

With a plea deal announced Friday in the second trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, the possibility that President Trump will issue a pardon to prevent Manafort's future cooperation with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III warrants fresh attention.

Trump's <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1032256443985084417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1032256443985084417&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fpolitics%2Fdont-retain-the-services-on-michael-cohen-trumps-responds-to-his-former-fixers-guilty-plea-with-a-wise-cracking-tweet%2F2018%2F08%2F22%2F08107bde-a5f3-11e8-a656-943eefab5daf_story.html" title="twitter.com">supportive tweet</a> about Manafort after his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/manafort-jury-suggests-it-cannot-come-to-a-consensus-on-a-single-count/2018/08/21/a2478ac0-a559-11e8-a656-943eefab5daf_story.html?utm_term=.e38718bf60ef" title="www.washingtonpost.com">conviction in August on eight felony fraud counts</a>, praising him for not cooperating with prosecutors, was widely interpreted as a hint of future presidential leniency. Trump has insisted on his "absolute" power to pardon even himself, and his lawyers in a secret January memo to Mueller <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-secret-memo-trumps-lawyers-argued-he-has-complete-power-over-justice-investigations-and-could-not-have-committed-obstruction/2018/06/02/f609dc4a-6697-11e8-a768-ed043e33f1dc_story.html?utm_term=.4d122de6cfa9">asserted</a> the president's complete control over federal investigations as the nation's chief law enforcement officer.

Trump and his team have tried to lay the groundwork for pardons to protect him from criminal charges. But can he use the pardon power in that way? Not in our reading of the law. A self-pardon, or a pardon that is self-protective and serves the same purpose as a self-pardon, would be an abuse of power that violates the Constitution and, as such, could warrant impeachment.

If the president can use the pardon power to protect himself from prosecution, it would effectively transform him into an authoritarian ruler, incapable of being limited by law or any other branches of government. In constitutional terms, using the pardon power in this way would appear to violate <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii" title="www.law.cornell.edu">Article II</a>, which requires the president to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." To honor his oath of office, in other words, the president must act faithfully to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" to the best of his ability.

[Mueller is snaring more pleas: Look for what Manafort will be admitting to]

A president's first obligation is to the Constitution and its faithful enforcement — not to himself. He may not act, or fail to act, for corrupt or self-interested reasons. And he must enforce the laws Congress has enacted, not subvert those laws to his own interests or those of his cronies.

The president's powers — even seemingly unfettered ones, such as the power of the pardon — must be exercised within the parameters of other legal requirements derived from the Constitution or enacted by statute. To see this most clearly, consider a diverse group of people: the class of people who violated the Selective Service laws during the Vietnam War by burning their draft cards, fleeing to Canada, or through other, nonviolent acts of protest. President Jimmy Carter used the pardon power to grant clemency to everyone who had broken these laws in protesting the war — a merciful gesture by Carter, whatever your view on the merits of the conflict.  

But what if, say, Carter had granted the same clemency but limited it to Caucasians and excluded all people of color. Or if he afforded clemency only to Catholics, but not to Protestants, Jews or Muslims. Americans would surely say that the pardon power could not be used in that way — and that using a lawful power to violate another law (in this case, the right to equal protection) would render the pardon itself illegitimate and unlawful.

[Paul Manafort has flipped. So what happens now?]

The principle would also apply to self-protective pardons; the power itself cannot reasonably be read to allow its use to further violations of other laws — in Trump's case, that might mean laws against corruption, obstruction and conspiracy. 

The Office of Legal Counsel, which sits in the Justice Department and provides the president with opinions on executive actions, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/olc/opinions/1974/08/31/op-olc-supp-v001-p0370_0.pdf">has the view</a> that the president cannot self-pardon. As part of the executive branch, the OLC is very much in favor of executive power.

But on the issue of self-pardons, the OLC has been more restrained. In a 1974 opinion, written four days before President Richard M. Nixon resigned, the head of OLC wrote that the president cannot pardon himself, under "the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case." That is a rare example of the executive branch articulating a limit on its own power, and it shows why a president's use of the pardon power for others to obstruct an investigation and to immunize himself from liability would be legally suspect.

The OLC's opinions are binding only for subordinates in the executive branch. A president is free to ignore them, as some presidents have. But if the president were to issue a self-protective pardon, as in the case of Manafort, that would be a novel, untested act that would run counter to the precept that in our country, nobody is above the law.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-trump-pardons-himself-hes-admitting-hes-guilty-of-impeachable-crimes/2018/06/08/da96d98a-6a94-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html?utm_term=.b30f6eb07eae" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Ken Gormley: If Trump pardons himself, he’s admitting he’s guilty of impeachable crimes</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-pardons-really-arent-out-of-the-ordinary/2018/06/08/b9798c8e-6a8a-11e8-bf8c-f9ed2e672adf_story.html?utm_term=.8b8f9cc42875" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Margaret Colgate Love: Trump’s pardons really aren’t out of the ordinary</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-not-wrong-about-pardoning-himself/2018/06/08/e6b346fa-6a6b-11e8-9e38-24e693b38637_story.html?utm_term=.0c534b65c9cb" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Michael W. McConnell: Trump’s not wrong about pardoning himself</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-presidential-pardons-serve-himself-not-justice/2018/05/31/79e38ee6-651a-11e8-99d2-0d678ec08c2f_story.html?utm_term=.bc8548355595" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Ruth Marcus: Trump’s pardons show his twisted brand of mercy</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/presidential-pardons-for-friends-are-legal--but-theyre-wrong/2018/04/20/3a135124-4324-11e8-bba2-0976a82b05a2_story.html?utm_term=.75883fd43bf6" title="www.washingtonpost.com">Mark Osler: Presidential pardons for friends are legal — but they’re wrong</a>

Paul Rosenzweig

Justin Florence

The Washington Post

Trump Russia Probe Manafort

Editorials

Columns

Guest opinions

Cartoons

Submit a guest opinion

Today's Opinions newsletter

Opinions

iptc-media/society

iptc-media/politics

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice

iptc-media/politics/government/impeachment

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/law/criminal_law

iptc-media/society/values

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/crime

iptc-media/society/values/ethics

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/prosecution

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/court

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/justice_and_rights

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/law

iptc-media/politics/government/constitution_(law)

iptc-media/politics/government

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021- INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Exxon Mobil  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Asian Content_legacyaux_8xg

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/ExxonMobil 03312021 KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/American History Content

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - EXCLUDES ALL - 12.23.20

advertising/B2_Congressional Elections_legacyaux_r48

client-blocklists/Blockist: Capitol Building Mob

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/Citrix Mindfulness

advertising/B2_Government & Policy_legacyaux_mza

client-blocklists/Chase KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Politically Active - DO NOT REMOVE_legacyaux_lmp

advertising/B2_Politics_legacyaux_8f3

advertising/B2_Positive News_legacyaux_hlt

client-blocklists/Client List: GEICO KWs

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T ALT KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Mercedes KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FX Excludes All Disney

client-blocklists/Client List: Inpixon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Boeing KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Philip Morris KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Google KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T KWs 2021 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Dupixent neg kws - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Capital One KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 1.4.21

client-blocklists/Bank of America Merrill Lynch KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CME KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Office Depot KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ETrade KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates

The Washington Post Opinions section features opinion articles, op-eds, editorials by the Editorial Board, global opinions and letters to the editor on the issues of the day. Offerings include columns by Washington Post opinion writers, political cartoons by editorial cartoonists Ann Telnaes and Michael de Adder and podcasts by Jonathan Capehart.