Can The President pardon only Federal crimes or State as well?

[Bo]

I have not been able to find any info on who The President can Pardon. Is it just Federal Crimes or can he pardon people convicted of just the State level as well? Thank You Bo

[bbinacan]

1. I'm not sure but

if I had to guess, I'd say both.

[bbinacan]

4. It appears I may have been wrong.

From Wikipedia

"The pardon power of the President extends only to offenses cognizable under U.S. Federal law. However, the governors of most states have the power to grant pardons or reprieves for offenses under state criminal law. In other states, that power is committed to an appointed agency or board, or to a board and the governor in some hybrid arrangement."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon

[ashling]

2. against the United States

and he shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Federal offenses

[Bo]

3. Thanks Ashling!

[LiberalFighter]

7. Wouldn't that mean that Ford illegally pardoned Nixon?

[ashling]

8. No

Impeachment was moot, as the only penalty that would have flowed from the impeachment would have been removal from office. There could have been penalties for the high crimes and misdemeanors which were the basis for the impeachment, but that would have been in Federal Court.

The reason that Nixon was not impeached was because he resigned.

The reference to impeachment in that clause refers to a President's inability to overide the Congress' impeachment of someone in his administration by keeping them in office. For instance, if Gonzo were to get impeached and removed from office, B* could not keep him as his attorney general because B* is in fact, not the decider.

I hope that is clear, and I apologize for the strained grammatical construction.

[ddeclue]

5. Federal...ours is a Federal system, not a National system

That means that the President gets to pardon federal crimes and the governors get to pardon state crimes but they don't get to play in each others sandboxes.

Doug D.

[ddeclue]

6. Federal...ours is a Federal system, not a National system

That means that the President gets to pardon federal crimes and the governors get to pardon state crimes but they don't get to play in each others sandboxes.

Doug D.