> [1] The pardon would have put Nixon in a difficult position on the witness stand since he would not have been able to assert any Fifth Amendment privilege when questioned about his actions as president.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon_of_Richard_Nixon#Afterm...
This thread started with that statement, which is what I based my comments on.
To take the piss on it, only a fool would pardon someone for a crime of which they are not accused.
Are you implying that point?
There are a other trivial examples. Confederate solders weren't indicted [1]. The Vietnam draft dodging pardons didn't even name people [2] [3].
Why they would do it? I mean to nullify the 5th amendment right. Maybe you want to prosecute a crime boss so you give somebody a pardon (or immunity) so they can't/don't plead the 5th and have to testify against them.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardons_for_ex-Confederates#An...
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_evasion#Pardons
[3]: https://www.nytimes.com/1977/01/22/archives/texts-of-documen...