A legal wrangle for the day:

Pardon Lasts One Day for Man in Fraud Case - NYTimes.com

Can a sitting President revoke a pardon he had already issued (in this case in less than 24 hours)?

If so, could Obama revoke any of Bush's pardons? If the answer is yes Obama can, then try out this scenario: say Bush pardons Cheney. Could Obama then revoke it? If so, how could Bush argue that he can't revoke a pardon, if he has already set the precedent?

Or does only the pardoning president have the power to revoke a pardon he issued? (My guess at the right answer here.)

Quiz tomorrow.


UPDATE:

Interesting legal argument here. It seems that the pardon might not have been finalized, as in sealed. Interesting quote here:

"The president has the power to lift criminal consequences from someone, but not to unilaterally impose them, which a pardon revocation does."

So, I would think that a President can't revoke a past president's pardons except in cases like Marbury v. Madison (see Michael Froomkin's, a Professor at The University of Miami School of Law, blog here.) Interesting read here on pardons.

Froomkin updates his blog here and now sees it as a non issue, based on the fact that "nothing had been signed or sealed."

I like the commenter's theory, though.

(Thanks to The Daily Kos)

God, I love this legal shit. Should have gone to law school.