Last month I spent a lot of time marshaling arguments and expert opinions suggesting that the president actually lacked the power to revoke a pardon, as he did in the case of New York real estate developer Isaac Toussie. But as Steven Aftergood reports, a new Congressional Research Service report concludes that President Bush probably did have the power to revoke the pardon since it had yet to be ‘executed’. Again, past DOJ pardon attorney have said there’s no real ‘execution’ of anything that the Pardon Attorney does. And it’s worth noting that the CRS has no legal standing. But that’s their take.
