According to Alexander Hamilton, the vast unilateral power to grant pardonsMeticulousness and caution will naturally emerge.” to the president.
Clearly, then, the framers of the Constitution did not recognize the danger posed by a president as greedy, nepotistic, and reckless as Donald Trump.
In his first term, we saw how Trump flouted this measure of mercy. Hand over control to son-in-law to help felon friend. Reform is necessary given the possibility that President Trump will use this power during his second term.
The framers of the Constitution gave the president the power to grant pardons and reprieves as a safety valve to alleviate potential overreach in the criminal justice system. in federalist 74Hamilton explains how all criminal systems contain the potential for unnecessarily harsh punishments. To check the courts, the president, and only the president, can correct miscarriages of justice.
But there's one problem. That means we need a president who actually cares about justice. Without it, the pardon power could turn into a license to act illegally, issued solely for the benefit of the president.
This is how Trump used his pardon power during his first term as a favor to family, friends and political allies. He pardoned his political operatives Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, and George Papadopoulos.
Towards the end of his presidential term, Justice Department procedures replaced by Jared Kushner's whims He handed out pardons to family and friends. Mr. Kushner is neither a lawyer nor a criminal justice expert. His only experience was with his father Convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. He then served two years in federal prison. (He received a full pardon from President Trump through his son.)
In President Trump's White House, it didn't matter how deserving the person was or whether the pardon itself was fairly administered. President Trump's pardon was an access game. If you or your family can sue Jared Kushner, perhaps you can get a reprieve. If you were not in their social orbit, your case would not be worth consideration.
So I wasn't surprised to read Jonathan Brown, whose drug sentence was commuted by President Trump.was recently arrested on suspicion of hitting his father-in-law.. Court documents state: Brown also recently assaulted his wife.. Even before he was pardoned, Brown's threats and assaults were well known. Court filings detail how he threatened a rabbi who borrowed money to renovate a kindergarten. He was also accused of throwing a man off the deck at an engagement party..
So why was he released from prison? All we know is how it started. Brown's family contacted Kushner's father. We also know that a friend of Brown's family said the family was prepared to spend millions of dollars to get Brown released from prison. This was not a commutation reviewed by the Justice Department. In fact, this surprised prosecutors and undermined a large-scale predatory lending case in New York. We can only speculate about what happened between Kushner's father being contacted and the pardon being granted.
Mr. Trump is currently running for a second term. He has already promised to release those convicted of the January 6 charges.. Some Framers actually foresaw such a president and argued during the Constitutional Convention that an exception should be made to the treason pardon power. In the end, that phrase was not included, but I don't know why.
Today, that omission seems fateful. If re-elected, President Trump has promised to release from prison the supporters who stormed the Capitol at his urging and tried to block the certification of Joe Biden as president. It was the first time the Capitol building had been occupied since the War of 1812. If the framers didn't recognize the need for this exception in 1787, they probably should in 2024.
I have suggested H.J.Res. 77a proposed constitutional amendment that addresses these concerns, but with a different approach. My amendment does not name specific crimes, but rather allows the president to commit crimes against specific people, including himself, his family, members of his administration, former campaign staff, or directly motivated by the president's direction or the president's interests. It prohibits amnesty for persons who have committed crimes.
While not extending to all abuses of the pardon power, my amendment would at least make it clear that pardons issued for corrupt purposes are invalid. We will not tolerate the violent mobs commanded by the president. There are no amnesties in exchange for campaign contributions. There is no mercy for the family.
While President Trump may have been the most prominent and dangerous use of pardon power, he is not the only president to question and use pardons. That's why Americans must exercise prudence and prudence and reform the pardon power.
Steve Cohen, Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, represents Tennessee's 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
