Does an American President have the authority to pardon an American citizen from International war crimes?
Answer Your question is very intriguing, and I appreciate it. The President only has authority to pardon federal crimes. He has no authority to pardon state crimes, nor international crimes, such as war crimes. War crimes are very ambiguous to prosecute and the jurisdiction of what organization, state, or alliance of states tries them can be difficult to determine. The President is granted authority to offer pardons as ascertained in Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. According to a U.S. Supreme Court decision delivered in 1915, Burdick v. United States, the court ruled that the recipient of the pardon must accept it, and that it also serves as an admission of guilt. This decision is reaffirmed in Nixon v. Administrator of General Services (1977). Since President Nixon accepted the pardon offered by President Ford, he had to acknowledge that accepting it was an admission to guilt, but guilt to what specific crimes was never established because Ford granted Nixon a blanket
