"A sharp-edged work of legal journalism that will fascinate politics junkies." -Kirkus Reviews THE PARDON: The Politics of Presidential Mercy, by acclaimed journalist, legal scholar, and bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin, will be published on February 11th, 2025. The book arrives just as the topic of presidential pardons is front-of-mind for all of us. In the waning days of his administration, President Joe Biden pardoned his own son, Hunter, and issued preemptive pardons for other family members and associates. At the very start of his second administration, Donald Trump pardoned virtually all January 6th rioters, including some charged with violent crimes, mostly against police officers, committed during the insurrection.We have entered a new age in which the presidential pardon power is deployed out of self-interest, to provide political cover and legal protection for intimates and to reward loyalty. In THE PARDON Toobin focuses on what has historically been considered the most controversial presidential pardon to date-Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon-and its profound implications for our current political landscape. Widely criticized at the time, Ford's decision has since been reevaluated as a healing gesture for a divided country even by former critics. Toobin argues that Ford's pardon was a disaster-an unwise gift to an undeserving recipient, and one that created an unsettling precedent that is already being tested by the latest occupant of the Oval Office. Toobin also pulls back for an overview of the history and legacy of the presidential pardon power, up to and including a comprehensive chapter on Trump's first-term pardons, which serves as useful preamble to the actions he's already taken in his second.As Toobin points out, the pardon is the Constitutional power most directly modeled on the royal prerogatives of the King of England. The pardons bestowed by Trump and Biden, or any president, cannot be overruled or even challenged in the courts. THE PARDON is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, the complex dynamics of power within the highest office in the nation, and the implications of presidential mercy.


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