In what way is he absolutely immune from having to testify on this topic? As IANAL, I'd be interested in any of the resident lawyers offering insight on this topic.
My understanding is that executive privilege is not in fact absolute, and it only comes in to play when revealing the information would impair governmental functions. It's difficult to see how it would apply in this instance, since this factor actually cuts the other way: not revealing the information would hinder governmental functions.
At the very least, Biden's refusal to simply testify that he did in fact issue the order to process the pardons would certainly allow the court to draw a negative inference on the matter. It's a pretty simple question to answer. Of course, doing so would open Biden up to further questioning around his mental capacity. C'est la vie.
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In what way is he absolutely immune from having to testify on this topic? As IANAL, I'd be interested in any of the resident lawyers offering insight on this topic.
My understanding is that executive privilege is not in fact absolute, and it only comes in to play when revealing the information would impair governmental functions. It's difficult to see how it would apply in this instance, since this factor actually cuts the other way: not revealing the information would hinder governmental functions.
At the very least, Biden's refusal to simply testify that he did in fact issue the order to process the pardons would certainly allow the court to draw a negative inference on the matter. It's a pretty simple question to answer. Of course, doing so would open Biden up to further questioning around his mental capacity. C'est la vie.
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