Trump will find it hard to pardon himself – here's why

With less than a month remaining in office, Donald Trump is increasingly turning to the most monarchical and unchecked of presidential prerogatives: the pardon power. He has already pushed the limits of that entitlement, treating it in a far more personalised, partisan and ideological manner than any of his predecessors. But additional political assumptions and constitutional questions may be tested as he moves to pardon more allies, family members and possibly even himself. The British monarch’s pardon power was one of the few aspects of royal governance that the founders of the American constitutional republic wanted to retain. They saw it as a final recourse of grace and forgiveness that...