Brian Kalt

Associated Press | 2020-12-07

No president has attempted to pardon himself while in office, so if Trump tries to do so in the next six weeks, he will be venturing into legally untested territory without clear guidance from the Constitution or from judges. Legal experts are divided on an inherently ambiguous question that was left vague by the Founding Fathers and has never had to be definitively resolved in court. “You could say, implicit in the definition of a pardon or implicit in the notion of granting a pardon — because the Constitution uses the word ‘grant’ — is that it’s two separate people,” said Brian Kalt, a law professor at Michigan State University. “You can’t grant something to yourself. You can’t pardon yourself.” It could also seem to run afoul of the fundamental principle that no one — in this case, a president issuing himself a pardon — may serve as a judge in his own case.

USA Today | 2020-12-04

As Trump weighs granting additional pardons to close associates – and perhaps family members and even himself – experts said he may not pay much of a political price, no matter whom the recipients are. The number of pardons with a political sheen Trump has signed – along with the unorthodox way he's wielded the power – may have desensitized the public to the issue. The reaction to Flynn's pardon, though muted, underscored that the president's broad clemency powers are increasingly viewed – like much else – along partisan lines: Democrats express outrage, and Trump's supporters cheer. That division, several experts said, may partly explain why some Americans shrug their shoulders. "He has a large and loyal base who will accept his explanation for his actions, which will likely be that he and the people he has pardoned did nothing wrong and need to be protected from the deep state,” said Brian Kalt, a law professor at Michigan State University.

MSN | 2020-11-11

So, the big question... Can Donald Trump pardon himself? In short, the answer is nobody knows. No president has ever had the need to try it. But then, there's never been a president quite like Trump. “When people ask me if a president can pardon himself, my answer is always: ‘Well, he can try,'” Brian Kalt, a constitutional law professor at Michigan State University, told Reuters. “The Constitution does not provide a clear answer on this.” Many legal experts have said that a self-pardon would be unconstitutional because it violates the basic principle that nobody should be the judge in his or her own case. Kalt said this, in his view, was the stronger argument.

Bloomberg | 2020-10-15

In the aftermath of President Trump's recent hospitalization, a bill that would create a commission to examine presidential fitness under the 25th Amendment was proposed in the U.S. House. Michigan State University law professor Brian C. Kalt explains how the proposal would work and how it could increase the incentive for a U.S. president to conceal any impairments.

Washington Post | 2020-10-02

The news that President Trump has tested positive for the coronavirus is stunning on many levels — personal, electoral and legal. As of now, there is no indication that Trump has symptoms, let alone a severe case. Nevertheless, it is important for the country to understand in advance what the legal picture might be if his condition significantly worsens. The law is mostly clear about how to handle a president who falls seriously ill, but it’s not hard to envision a legal scenario that spins out of control quickly.
Op-ed written by Brian C. Kalt, law professor and the Harold Norris faculty scholar at Michigan State University.

CNN | 2020-09-21

Kayleigh Mcenany is very likely to announce his pick for supreme court justice as early as tomorrow. Joining me now, Brian Kalt, professor of law at Michigan State University. We've brought you here because you have done some fact checking on the timing of this nomination and what the historical context would be. So, were the president to nominate a justice, where does that place it in history?

Kalt: It would be the closest to an election, before an election that any president has submitted a nomination. We've had two vacancies open up later than this. Both of those were not acted on until after the election.

Foreign Policy Online | 2020-08-25

This article was written by Brian Kalt, professor and the Harold Norris faculty scholar at Michigan State University College of Law.

When U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on July 30 his suggestion to delay the presidential election – and questioned whether the November vote's results would be known for “months, or even years” – the response by political experts and observers was both an overreaction and an underreaction. As many quickly pointed out, it takes a lot more than presidential whim to delay an election. The president's and vice president's terms end at noon on Jan. 20 whether their successors have been elected yet or not – and the line-of-succession statute dictates what happens next, putting the speaker of the House of Representatives first in line for the presidency, followed by the president pro tempore of the Senate.

CNN | 2018-09-07

What would it take to employ the 25th Amendment? As we've written before, there are a few scenarios that leap to mind (and read these articles by Brian Kalt and David Pozen for some more context) in which the 25th Amendment could be invoked.

NPR | 2018-09-06

Brian Kalt: "I think, as the op-ed writer said, it wouldn't work. It would make things worse. The 25th Amendment, section four in particular, it was designed to make sure that if the president was incapacitated there was someone who could pick up the reins immediately. And they wanted to make sure it wasn't used for presidents who were unfit or who were inept or any of those other things. We already have a process to get rid of presidents who are doing a bad job. This was supposed to not supplant that, so they designed it so that if you tried to use it for that, it wouldn't work."

Bloomberg | 2018-09-06

Even worse: Brian Kalt has floated a true nightmare scenario. As he points out, there’s at least some ambiguity in the text of the 25th about how much of a delay is required between when the president reasserts his ability to serve and the point at which the vice-president and the majority of the cabinet transmit their belief that the disability continues. Trump might claim that he was entitled to the “powers and duties” in the interim, or perhaps even until Congress voted to confirm his inability to govern. In other words, the 25th might give us a period in which two people had at least plausible claims to the office. Now that’s what I’d call a constitutional crisis.

CNN | 2017-10-19

Law Professor Brian Kalt at Michigan State College games out how difficult implementing the 25th Amendment about fitness for office would be utilized against President Trump.

PBS Newshour | 2017-08-28

President Trump's Friday night pardon of former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- convicted of defying a court order to stop targeting undocumented immigrants -- drew swift criticism, even from fellow Republicans. What makes the controversial pardon so noteworthy? John Yang is joined by Brian Kalt of Michigan State University to discuss its significance.

The Detroit News | 2017-01-31

“Gorsuch has stellar credentials and an excellent reputation: smart, collegial, and a good writer,” said Brian Kalt, a Michigan State University law professor. "One might think of him as the classic insider, and thus not the sort of person Trump might favor, but that just goes to show how well-respected he is as a judge.”...

VICE | 2016-08-04

The book's premise originates from a 14-page article called "The Perfect Crime" by Michigan State University law professor Brian Kalt. The article describes a judicial no-man's land in the Idaho part of Yellowstone, where a person can commit a crime and get off scot-free due to sloppy jurisdictional boundaries...