In 1982 the supreme court gave Richard Nixon "absolute immunity" to prosecution for most kinds of crimes committed while in office, setting a precedent for administrations to come.
Since Albany's similarly secretive effort at ethics reform in 2007, which resulted in a deeply flawed bill, 11 legislators have been indicted or convicted of crimes committed while in office.
His successor, Gerald Ford (who had only taken over the vice-presidency after the resignation of Spiro Agnew over unrelated corruption charges), issued a presidential pardon for any crimes he might have committed while in office.
Milosevic's trial -- the first international prosecution of a former head of state for crimes committed while in office -- has signaled the arrival of a new era of world justice.
RUSSIA: PROTECTING PRESIDENTS -- Parliament's lower house voted 282 to 130 to approve a measure giving former presidents immunity from criminal prosecution for acts committed while in office, ignoring protests that they were inviting leaders to break the law.
Benin's judiciary comprises the Constitutional Court, which is the highest court in constitutional-related affairs, the Supreme Court, which is the highest court for administrative and judicial matters, and the High Court of Justice, which hears cases against the president and other government officials in matters pertaining to crimes committed while in office and high treason.
Combining these and other points, the essay concludes that the FSIA confers presumptive immunity in suits against state officials, including former state officials, for their official acts committed while in office, and that this immunity applies even in human rights cases.
On September 8 , 1974 declaring that in the end "it is not the ultimate fate of Richard Nixon that most concerns me" but rather "the immediate future of this great country," Ford pardoned Nixon "for all offenses against the United States" that he had committed "or may have committed" while in office.
