The Repercussions of Presidential Pardons

Donald Trump -- who seemed to be trying to intimidate the Justice Department and the special counsel in a New York Times interview earlier this week -- is reportedly considering a variety of dramatic moves against the Russia investigation, perhaps including firing Robert Mueller (something many have been reporting on for some time) and pardoning members of his family, campaign and administration (something which, up to now, appeared to be just the speculation of some of the most hair-on-fire observers).

These are extremely fraught waters for the president to travel in. It's certainly possible, as Brendan Nyhan points out, that this is just more bluster. But it's also possible he'll act. If so, here's the legal and constitutional situation, as I understand it -- with the major caveat that much of this is untested. Presidents just haven't done these things.