Washington (CNN) The Supreme Court grappled on Thursday with a case concerning an exception to the Fifth Amendment's ban on prosecuting an individual twice for the same offense in a case that could also possibly impact President Donald Trump's pardon power as it applied to the Robert Mueller probe.

Decades ago, the Supreme Court developed an exception to the Fifth Amendment's double jeopardy clause and it is now being asked to rethink precedent.

The so-called "separate sovereigns exception" provides that a person can be tried twice for the same offense if the prosecutions occur in state and federal courts. The rationale is that the states and the federal government are different sovereigns.

Critics contend that in the modern day it leads to harassment of defendants -- especially the poor -- who can't afford to fight on two fronts. They also point to a recent trend they argue has led to an increase of federal prosecutions in areas that had traditionally been left to the states.

In addition, it could also impact the presidential pardon power, leading to a question of what would happen if the President were to pardon an individual like his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort for federal offenses. Under the exception, a state could conceivably bring a prosecution for the same crimes. That might not occur if the court were to strike the exception.

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