Amend and Reform the Pardon Clause of the Constitution in 2027

Source: Liberal Currents
by Dennis Lytton

“Trump’s use of the constitution’s plenary grant of pardon authority to him — from all the J6’ers, to his cronies and friends, to implicit promises to administration thugs high and low — has been without precedent in scale to be sure. But the history of the pardon clause has always been fraught. Increasingly in the last few generations its abuses — from Clinton’s Marc Rich to Bush’s Iran Contra plotters — have become prominent. Amendments may require Republican members of Congress to get on board, but they do not require the president. Pardon reform, especially if it does not have a particular partisan valence, could be a low hanging fruit for the 120th Congress to address through that mechanism.” (03/17/26)

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/amend-and-reform-the-pardon-clause-of-the-constitution-in-2027/