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Sam Berger
@SamBerger_DC
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
If true, this is incredibly serious: offering to pardon govt officials in exchange for breaking the law is a direct attack on our democracy.

But if any govt officials are thinking of taking Trump up on it, they should know that any such pardon would have no legal effect. /1
Pardons can only be used for crimes that have *already* occurred. But in this case, Trump and the govt official would have entered into an ongoing conspiracy to break the law, and the issuance of the pardon would be a continuation of the crime. /2
justsecurity.org/62174/pardon-f…
Since the act of pardoning would itself be part of the crime, the pardon would have no effect, just as if Trump attempted to pardon a state crime.

And entering into this scheme would make Trump criminally liable too. /3
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Sam Berger
@SamBerger_DC
.@ezraklein: "if you want to break the concentrations of power in American politics, the place to start is with the power of political institutions to frustrate the public’s demands for change."

We @amprog have some thoughts on how to do so:
vox.com/policy-and-pol…
Start with HR 1, a historic piece of legislation that expands access to the ballot, reduces the influence of big money in our politics, and imposes stronger ethics requirements on public officials.
americanprogress.org/press/statemen…
There are some ways to build on the fantastic reforms in HR 1: steps like DC statehood, providing publicly financed democracy dollars to the American people, and preventing U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations from spending $ in our elections.
americanprogress.org/issues/democra…
Read 6 tweets
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Sam Berger
@SamBerger_DC
Our judicial system is structured to favor the wealthy and powerful. My colleague Danielle Root and I argue that it's time for progressives to start thinking seriously about judicial structural reforms - who can bring cases and what judges hear them. americanprogress.org/issues/courts/…
That means looking at ideas to restore fair-mindedness to the judiciary and combat conservative court packing. It also means addressing barriers to accessing the courts - things like forced arbitration and limiting private rights of action.
usatoday.com/story/opinion/…
These types of reforms are critical: as we've seen, conservatives are seeking to use the courts to make unpopular policy changes they know they can't pass legislatively. If we want progressive policies that last, we need to address extreme conservative bias in the courts.
Read 4 tweets
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Sam Berger
@SamBerger_DC
"Gillibrand's plan is the most ambitious adoption of the idea that I think we've seen so far." @LarryLessig is right - @SenGillibrand is taking a strong stand against special interests and for the American people. nbcnews.com/politics/2020-…
.@SenGillibrand: "If you want to accomplish anything that the American people want us to accomplish — whether it's healthcare as a right, better public schools, better economy — you have to take on the greed and corruption that determine everything in Washington,"
HR 1 is a historic piece of legislation that is sparking a much needed debate about structural reforms. The Clean Elections Act is an important part of that discussion. Here are some other ideas to build on the great work in HR 1.
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