So: these rely on the general assumption about Nixon insofar as he never got charged -- and so the blanket was never put to a test.
There's one way to find out if a blanket pardon for an unspecified, not yet charged crime is valid.
As with so many other matters, you only want to put something important like this to the test when you're sure of the result. We don't want to accidentally lock into place a mechanism where evil can do whatever it wants to us and then pardon itself, laughing over the wreckage with impunity.
So: these rely on the general assumption about Nixon insofar as he never got charged -- and so the blanket was never put to a test.
There's one way to find out if a blanket pardon for an unspecified, not yet charged crime is valid.
As with so many other matters, you only want to put something important like this to the test when you're sure of the result. We don't want to accidentally lock into place a mechanism where evil can do whatever it wants to us and then pardon itself, laughing over the wreckage with impunity.
This is the real answer