Presidential Pardons

The authority of the president to forgive various offenses and to commute punishments. Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution delegates to the president the “[p]ower to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” In other words, it gives the president the ability to be merciful as well as vengeful.

The pardon power was first used in 1792 when President George Washington (1789–1797) “most earnestly admonish[ed] and exhort[ed]” the whiskey manufacturers of western Pennsylvania to cease their disobedience and obstruction of the law. They were, the president's proclamation continued, not only refusing to pay taxes on the whiskey produced, but also resisting enforcement of the tax law with violence. Washington tried issuing demands to end the “Whiskey Rebellion,” and he tried applying force. Law and order in the western counties of Pennsylvania, however, were not restored until the president promised and granted the offenders a full and absolute pardon.

A reprieve reduces a sentence already imposed by a tribunal. A person sentenced to death by a U.S. district court or military court martial, for example, may have his or her sentence reduced to a long term of imprisonment by presidential reprieve. The guilt is not wiped out, but the severity of the punishment inflicted on the guilty person is reduced.

Presidential pardons wipe out both guilt and punishment. They restore the person pardoned to his or her full civil rights, as if the offense had never been committed. President Gerald Ford (1974–1977), for example, granted a full and unconditional pardon to his predecessor, Richard Nixon (1969–1974), and relieved the former president of the possibility of being prosecuted for any [Page 247]involvement he may have had in the crimes associated with the Watergate scandal. In late December 1992, President George H.W. Bush (1989–1993) issued controversial pardons to several key figures who had been implicated in the Iran-contra scandal during the Reagan (1981–1989) administration.

Reprieves and pardons may be granted to individuals or to classes of people in the form of “amnesties.” For example, Presidents Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865) and Andrew Johnson (1865–1869) signed amnesties for Confederate soldiers and political leaders, as did Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter (1977–1981) for people who violated the Selective Service Act by evading the draft during the Vietnam War (1964–1975).

The president may attach conditions to either form of clemency. President Nixon, for example, pardoned labor leader Jimmy Hoffa on the condition that Hoffa never again become involved in union activities.

The clemency authority of the president is extensive. It applies to any federal process or offender except, by express constitutional language, those persons tried (or being tried) and convicted through congressional impeachment. Moreover, it is one of the few constitutional powers of the president that does not require legislative agreement. Congress, in fact, may not interfere with presidential clemency authority in any manner.

The pardon process today is handled by the Office of the Pardon Attorney, created by Congress in 1891. The pardon attorney reviews petitions for clemency and makes a recommendation to the attorney general, who then considers the petition and advises the president. Many presidents have not been reluctant to use this authority. Harry S. Truman (1945–1953) pardoned more than 1,500 people who had violated the Selective Service Act during World War II (1939–1945); Gerald Ford issued 409 pardons in just under two and a half years in office; Jimmy Carter issued 566 pardons and commutations in four years; and Ronald Reagan issued 406 pardons during his two terms in office. George H.W. Bush issued only 77 pardons in his one term, but his postelection defeat pardons of six Iran-contra scandal figures were very controversial. Finally, Bill Clinton (1993–2001) issued 450 pardons over his two terms in office.

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