And the court case the Ford quoted is interesting too:
Burdick v. United States, 236 U.S. 79 (1915), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that:
- A pardoned person must introduce the pardon into court proceedings, otherwise the pardon must be disregarded by the court.
- To do this, the pardoned person must accept the pardon. If a pardon is rejected, it cannot be forced upon its subject
.
The implication above is that Trump has to have been in court, in a proceeding, to be pardoned.
*Worse yet from Trump:*The Supreme Court ruled that, as a pardon carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance carries a confession,
And finally – after President Gerald Ford left the White House in 1977, intimates said that the President privately justified his pardon of Richard Nixon by carrying in his wallet a portion of the text of the Burdick decision which stated that a pardon carries an imputation of guilt and that acceptance carries a confession of guilt.
So by pardoning himself or others. Trump is admitting his guilt. How about them apples!