32 NEWSWEEK.COM NOVEMBER 27, 2020
self-pardon and it stood, he cannot give himself im-
munity from state-level prosecution.)
While some of that self-dealing would be obvi-
ous—people associated with the Russian collusion
investigation, for instance—Lisa Gilbert of the
progressive watchdog group Public Citizen wor-
ries about more obscure names whose significance
won’t become clear until later if they, say, provide an
ex-President Trump with favors or financial support.
“We might see other pardons for people that are close
to him, perhaps connected to him financially in
ways we won’t know until we see it, but that sort of
ongoing conflict of interest late in decision-making
is something I anticipate in this moment,” she says.
Another normal lame-duck activity, attempting
to fill federal court vacancies, could also be taken
to an extreme. The last president to have control of
the Senate, which confirms judges, for any part of
the transition period was Bill Clinton in January
2001, but he was hamstrung by the requirement
for 60 votes to break a filibuster. The Senate, un-
der then-Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid,
removed that speed bump from judicial appoint-
ments, so Trump will be unfettered if he wants to
fill the 65 vacancies in the federal judiciary, 40 of
which already have nominations pending.
Even if the GOP loses control of the Senate after
the two Georgia Senate runoff elections in January,
observers fear the record speed with which Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed through
the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Co-
ney Barrett is a new model for approval of judicial
appointments. A turbo-charged Senate could swiftly
hand lifetime appointments to dozens of unvetted
and unqualified jurists, says Dennis Parker of the
National Center for Law and Economic Justice. “This
has consequences that are the longest lasting and
can’t be reversed,” Parker says. “This administration
has really prioritized this.”
Trump supporters take issue with the idea that
rushing through court appointments is a problem,
noting that it is the president’s prerogative. “The
president has a great track record from a conser-
vative standpoint on filling judicial vacancies andCARRYING ON
(Above) Protests at
Pennsylvania’s State
Capitol in Harrisburg
calling to stop the vote
as Trump’s lead slipped
away proved unsuccessful.
(Right) Environmentalists
worry that Trump will
press forward with plans
to open Tongass National
Park in Alaska to logging.