joined by msnbc legal analyst, jill wine-banks, former watergate prosecutor and professor pearlstein. walk us through the way the pardon works and its limitations in terms of state crimes. so the president s pardon power under the constitution is really substantially unlimited. the president can pardon whoever he wants, as long as he s pardoning them for a federal crime, for conduct that might be illegal under federal law. the president s power under the constitutionextend at all to state crimes. and states have been treated for the last 170 years as separate sovereigns under our law, so that although the supreme court just took a case on this topic, which we can talk about generally double jeopardy concerns don t attach. the state government is a separate sovereign and can move forward on its own, regardless
investigation and i m joined by jill wine-banks and pearl stein, a direct of constitutional law. i m going to start with you. walk us through way the pardon works and its limitations in terms of state crimes. so ethepresident pardon power under the constitution is substantially unlimited. he can pardon whoever he wants. as long as he s pardoning them for a federal crime frrks conduct that might be illegal. it does not extend lat to state crimes. and states have been treated for the last 170 years as separate sovereigns under our law. so that although the supreme court just teak a taste case on this topic, which we ecan talk about that the state government is a separate sovereign and can