Lawyer here. What do people think about the theory that some of these lawsuits are being brought with the underlying motive of obtaining presidential pardons?
I've long thought that a lot of these lawsuits are really being brought as quid pro quos for pardons from Trump before Biden assumes office. Ken Paxton and Rudy Giuliani are forerunners for this, in my opinion. Frankly, these lawsuits were legally baseless and any trained lawyer — including Paxton and Giuliani — knew they were dead from the start. The Texas lawsuit was downright laughable if you're familiar how the new Court views standing after Mass. v. EPA.
With that all said, pre-emptive pardons are definitely a thing (see, e.g., the Carter-era pardons). Paxton and Giuliani really didn't face much risk in bringing their respective lawsuits, as Paxton is in a red state that politically insulates him and Giuliani is too high profile to face discipline from the NY Bar Association. However, the potential gain (i.e., a presidential pardon in light of possible-to-probable federal charges in the future) is immense.
Thoughts? Is anyone else in consideration for pre-Biden presidential pardons?
probably biden, when he concedes.
Rumors that Trump is pardoning Assange, you called it. https://twitter.com/pastormarkburns/status/1338518866683686915
People forget the Obama-era protests too easily imo. The birther conspiracy was way more volatile than this, especially since it overlaid with other general Tea Party movements. We literally had hanging, burning effigies of Obama.
If the fraud conspiracy was more concrete, maybe there'd be wider civil unrest. Right now, however, I don't see this getting any worse than the BLM movements did this spring.
I think you underestimate how many veterans split for Biden. To my knowledge, we don't have firm post-election data yet. However, in lead-up data the only age group that was majority for Trump was 55+. The majority of veterans/active-service members under that age, i.e., the ones of traditional fighting age, favored biden.