Congressman Cohen Reintroduces an Amendment to the Constitution to Clarify and Limit the Presidential Pardon Power

WASHINGTON – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9), former Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, today reintroduced a Constitutional Amendment to clarify and limit a President’s pardon power.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

“The pardon power is supposed to be a safety valve against injustice.  It was not supposed to be a way for Presidents to put themselves, or their friends, family, lackeys, or co-conspirators above the law. I first introduced a version of this amendment during the 115th Congress, in 2017. I have been interested in rooting out corrupt uses of the clemency power for decades. In 1977, as Vice President of the Tennessee Constitutional Convention, I offered reforms to the governor’s pardon power to address questionable pardons by a Democratic governor. Party has never been a factor; it’s a matter of principle.

“This Constitutional Amendment would explicitly prohibit a self-pardon, pardons of family members, administration officials, and campaign employees.  It would also bar the President from issuing pardons to those whose crimes were committed to further a direct and significant personal interest of the President or others close the President, and those whose crimes were committed at the direction of, or in coordination with, the President. Finally, the amendment also clarifies that no pardon issued for a corrupt purpose – past, present, or future – is valid. 

“There is no substantive check on the President’s broad clemency power, making it ripe for abuse and self-dealing. This amendment is the answer.  It clarifies the pardon power and places meaningful limits on it to prevent misuse.” 

See the text of the Amendment here.

“January 6th was a devastating attack on our nation's democracy. We all saw it. Trump cannot rewrite history and he must not pardon the other insurrectionists. Public Citizen strongly supports Representative Cohen’s common-sense legislation to limit pardon power.” – Lisa Gilbert, Co-President of Public Citizen

“The pardon power — which is not limitless — has been abused by presidents of both parties and with increasing frequency in recent years. This proposal to reform and clarify the President’s pardon power is urgently needed to ensure that presidents cannot place themselves, their political interests, their families and other close contacts above the law. It is Congress’ constitutional prerogative and responsibility to both prevent and expose pardons which are granted not to further public welfare but for personal and corrupt reasons.” -- Grant Tudor, Policy Advocate, Protect Democracy

“We need a constitutional amendment to prevent the continuing misuse of the pardoning power. 

“Representative Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee’s 9th District, has repeatedly introduced just such an amendment, which would prohibit a self-pardon and pardons of family members, administration officials, and campaign employees. It would also bar the president from issuing pardons to those whose crimes were committed to further a direct and significant personal interest of the president or others close to him or her, and those whose crimes were committed at the direction of, or in coordination with, the president. 

“Cohen’s proposed amendment deserves widespread support.” – Former Clinton Administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich on Substack December 3, 2024.

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