The American scales of justice appear to be creaking under serious strain.

Several thousand former Justice Department officials are in open revolt.

The Attorney-General has reportedly threatened to quit and President Donald Trump has claimed the title of "chief law enforcement officer" for himself.

Let's break down another wild week under Trump.

Trump pardoned or released a slew of crooks

Conventional presidents use their powers to grant clemency to citizens convicted of crimes sparingly and cautiously, in the knowledge this "captain's call" will be heavily scrutinised.

Donald Trump used his presidential powers to release or pardon 11 people from criminal convictions. ( Reuters: Kevin Lamarque )

But Trump is not a conventional president.

This week the Commander in Chief let 11 people off the hook, including some political allies and others convicted of corruption, lying and fraud.

The New York Daily News called it "Revenge of the swamp creatures".

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Trump says he announced clemency for the 11 based on "the recommendations of people that know them" but offered little more detail than that.

The most controversial case involved former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

He's a Democrat who was sentenced to 14 years' prison for offering up then-president-elect Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat in exchange for money, in the form of campaign contributions.

Rod Blagojevich was pardoned by Donald Trump this week for trying to profit off Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat. ( Reuters: Joshua Lott )

This week, Blagojevich, a former contestant on Trump's Celebrity Apprentice, walked free after serving just eight years behind bars.

To many, he was seen as the epitome of the type of people that Trump promised to rid Washington of when he vowed to "drain the swamp".

But after a concerted campaign by Blagojevich — including a direct appeal from his wife on the President's favourite channel, Fox News — Trump let him go with the stroke of a pen.

The Attorney-General threatened to quit

Attorney-General William Barr is often called the President's defender-in-chief.

US Attorney-General William Barr (right) reportedly threatened to quit this week over tensions with Donald Trump. ( Reuters: Carlos Barria )

That's largely for his role in carefully managing the release of the Mueller Report into Russian interference in the 2016 election in a way that was favourable to Trump.

So it came as quite a shock when reports emerged that he was considering handing in his notice.

And it had nothing to do with the President's liberal use of pardoning powers.

Barr was upset that Trump had inserted himself directly into Justice Department investigations.

Last week, the President used Twitter to attack a federal judge presiding over the criminal case against one of his former advisers, Roger Stone.

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And he tweeted that the recommendation of seven to nine years' jail for Stone, who was convicted of threatening witnesses and lying to Congress, was "ridiculous".

Senior Justice Department officials stepped in and the four federal prosecutors who made the recommendation stepped down from the case.

Barr, the department head, insisted he had already decided to overrule the career prosecutors before the President intervened.

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But he lashed out at the President's use of social media, saying he could not do his job "with a constant background commentary".

Trump declared he was America's 'chief law officer'

The President denied he intervened to force the Justice Department to withdraw the prison sentence recommendation.

But he said there would have been nothing wrong if he had.

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"I'm allowed to be totally involved. I'm actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country," he proclaimed.

The comments must have come as a surprise to Barr.

After all, the White House website describes the Attorney-General as "the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government."

Constitutional experts say the President is technically correct.

But many have also pointed out the best policy is for the White House to stay at arm's length from the criminal justice system, to ensure the courts keep true to the principle of impartial justice.

Thousands of former Justice Department officials are furious

Barr's rebuke of the President has done little to allay the concerns of those who have devoted their careers to matters concerning the law of the land.

A list of former Justice Department workers calling for the Attorney-General's resignation has grown to more than 2,400 — and is rising by the day.

The list is made up of public servants who worked under both Republican and Democrat presidents.

Carmen Ortiz, the former US attorney for Massachusetts under Obama, was among the signatories.

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"I've worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations, and I've just never seen behaviour like what we're seeing right now," she said.

In addition, the head of the Federal Judges Association called an emergency meeting to address the growing concerns.

Meanwhile, Trump made no commitment to change his behaviour, but conceded his prolific use of social media does make the Attorney-General's job "harder".

A 'dirty trickster' jailed … or maybe not?

The former Trump advisor at the centre of the row is Stone.

The self-proclaimed "dirty trickster" first demonstrated a knack for the dark arts of politics when he worked on Richard Nixon's 1972 election campaign.

Self-declared 'dirty trickster' Roger Stone is facing 40 months in prison — unless Donald Trump intervenes. ( Reuters: Jim Bourg )

On Friday, he was sentenced to more than three years in prison for obstructing a congressional inquiry in an attempt to protect the President.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson described the Attorney-General's intervention in the case as "unprecedented" but insisted it hadn't influenced her final decision.

Stone, she said, "was not prosecuted for standing up for the President; he was prosecuted for covering up for the President."

The big question now is whether Trump will allow it to stand.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 23 seconds 1 m 23 s President Donald Trump claims Roger Stone was treated unfairly and expects him to be exonerated.

For weeks, speculation has been growing that the President would pardon his former confidante if he was sent to prison.

If Trump decides to reverse the judge's ruling, his act of seemingly random kindness in pardoning others this week will look more like an attempted smokescreen than a coincidence.

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It's hard to think of a President who has flouted the conventions regarding criminal justice more than Trump.

His supporters say that's exactly what's needed in response to the "witch-hunts", "hoaxes" and "deep state" conspiracies.

His opponents claim it's another example of how the Trump presidency is corroding the checks and balances that have protected American democracy for centuries.

Members of both sides regularly place their hands on their hearts to make the pledge of allegiance, which promises "liberty and justice for all".

Like everything else in America today, 'justice' depends on which side you're on.