Republican Congressman Joins Effort To Limit Presidential Pardon Authority

Congressman Don Bacon has become the first Republican to co-sponsor a longshot constitutional amendment proposal to establish new limits on presidential pardon authority.Mr. Bacon signed on days after President Trump announced a pardon of five former NFL players on a variety of charges. President Trump has issued nearly two thousand other pardons since returning to the White House last year, including clearing most people charged in connection with the January 6th riot at the Capitol.Another of Mr. Trump’s pardons that was criticized involved the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving a 45-year sentence in an American prison on charges of helping drug traffickers to bring hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States.Mr. Trump granted sweeping pardons in November to dozens of allies implicated in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, including his former personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Cheesebro.In December, Mr. Trump announced that he was pardoning Congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife Imelda Cuellar, indicted for allegedly taking bribes from Azerbaijani officials and from a Mexican bank.Mr. Trump even pardoned reality TV couple Todd and Julie Chrisley earlier last year.Congressman Johnny Olszewski, a Maryland Democrat, is leading the fight to pass the Pardon Integrity Act. The amendment would put a process in place for members of Congress to revoke pardons.Under the proposal, 20 members of the House and five members of the Senate could initiate a process to nullify a pardon. Congress would have 60 days to reject a pardon with a two-thirds supermajority vote in both chambers. The legislation would also prohibit the issuance of subsequent pardons for the same offense.“Safeguarding democracy shouldn’t be partisan,” Mr. Olszewski said in an X post on Monday announcing Mr. Bacon’s support for the measure. “When pardons are abused to protect criminals and political allies, Congress has a duty to act.”Mr. Olszewski called Mr. Trump’s pardons “outrageous and deeply troubling,” but they came after President Biden issued a slew of his own pardons in his final days, including one for his son Hunter for tax and gun crimes. Mr. Biden also issued a series of “preemptive pardons” to members of his family and some administration officials like Anthony Fauci.Mr. Bacon said that while presidential pardons are an important constitutional authority, they need checks and balances.“Across multiple administrations, we’ve seen legitimate questions raised about how this authority has been used at the same time, the ability of Congress to provide oversight has weakened,” Mr. Bacon said in a statement. “Frankly, it is clear to me the pardon authority has been abused.”The amendment would require support from two-thirds majorities in both houses of Congress or ratification by 38 states, making its passage highly unlikely. Messrs. Bacon and Olszewski — who are both retiring — are the only two co-sponsors of the measure.The Equal Rights Amendment is the most recent amendment to be ratified by 38 states. Virginia ratified the amendment in 2020 but it came after the deadline for its ratification and it has not been formally recognized as part of the Constitution.

Republican Congressman Joins Effort To Limit Presidential Pardon Authority

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