In an op-ed posted online to TIME, co-authored by our Legal Director Ron Fine and John W. Dean, White House counsel to President Richard M. Nixon from 1970 to 1973, outline Trump’s abuse of power by pardoning former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The piece begins:

During the last two days of his embattled presidency, Richard Nixon made a rare principled decision. With the Watergate special prosecutor and congressional impeachment proceedings closing in, he rejected last-minute requests for pardons from his two former top aides, the men who could most damagingly testify against him. Unfortunately, while dust is settling on Donald Trump’s pardon of former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, its message suggests a much cruder view of the pardon power, and sets a dangerous precedent for the months to come.