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1] Does criminal statute of limitations (SOL) "pause" against Trump while in office? Reasonable minds may differ, but there's a good chance answer may be "no." msnbc.com/morning-joe-fi… @CrimeADay @glennkirschner2 @JoyceWhiteVance
2] A law student friend has a Law Review note coming out this year that does a deep, deep dive into this topic. Assume a 5yr federal criminal statute of limitations (a popular federal SOL). Then assume prez is simply immune from all criminal prosecution while in office...
3] Assume in Year 1 of presidency, govt decides it can/should charge Prez. Assume he's re-elected. He would be criminally immune until Year 8. The 5yr SOL would have expired. That's where "tolling" comes in (or it doesn't).
4] "Tolling" is a mechanism that "stops the clock" (@rmlimoddriver69) on the SOL. Example: child is 15yo and is injured in an accident. The state may have a 2yr SOL for negligence cases. But, often the SOL is "tolled" (or paused) until child is of adult age.
5] So an injured child has [until he turns 18] + [2yr SOL] to file suit. That's tolling--it's really just saying: "for fairness reasons, we're pausing the SOL."
BUT, should tolling apply in criminal cases?
BUT, should tolling apply in criminal cases?
6] It's one thing to increase the time a civil deft is exposed to a lawsuit. It's a whole 'nother thing to increase the time of exposure for a criminal deft to criminal prosecution: deprivation of liberty or life.
7] A court would likely read the federal SOL statute strictly and say there's no exception or "tolling" authorized in the language of the statute.
8] That doesn't mean the govt has no recourse. They could "seal" an indictment, which might have the same practical effect, and they could charge Citizen Ex-Prez the day after he becomes Ex-Prez.
9] Congress could also pass legislation as well allowing for tolling, or amending the federal SOL. But...if a president suspects he is going to be charged by the next administration's DOJ, he has a "trump" card...
10] The day before his presidency ends, the Prez could just pardon himself. I think that's a real possibility: that on the last day of his presidency, the Prez will pardon all his friends who were indicted, and himself.
11] Here's what a Twitter self-pardon might look like: "I'm pardoning myself before I leave, even though I did nothing wrong, to prevent [nickname for new Prez] and the Dems from continuing the witch hunt. Fake News! No Collusion!" (yes, a pardon can be tweeted).
