Yeah, it's not clear whether that will hold up or not. It's why the White House Council tried to talk him out of it. Also, by doing so - it's akin to stating he was guilty. What's also unusual is this is the first time the pardons were done with being vetted first through the Justice Department, etc. There's a few others that fit under the "clemency" version - which is they haven't exactly served any time and either were just convicted or about to be - and their sentence falls under clemency - ie. commuted or forgiven. That's the "draft dodgers" blanket pardon which Carter granted - it fell under "clemency" and the Supreme Court may hold up Trump's pardon of Bannon for the same reasons, along with a few of the others. Most aren't that unusual.
no subject