A Constitutional Amendment To Transparently Restrict and Undo Malevolent Pardons

Now may be the best chance we will ever have to pass an amendment limiting presidential abuse of the pardon power. Amending the Constitution is hard—it requires a  2/3 majority vote in both the House and the Senate, followed by ratification in ¾ of the states. Alternatively, 2/3 of the state legislatures can call for a Constitutional Convention, with ¾ of the states needing to approve any amendments drawn up at the convention. (See Article V of the Constitution for more details.)
 

The second method via Constitutional Convention is riskier than the first because a Convention could pass many amendments—some of which could destroy basic fundamental rights guaranteed by our Constitution. That is why none of the Constitution’s 27 amendments have been passed via Constitutional Convention. There have been no amendments passed in 33 years
 

It may seem crazy to think that we could pass an amendment now in the hyper-partisan environment that we are in. It is impossible to get the Democrats and Republicans to agree on anything, much less get 2/3 support in both the House and the Senate. But there is ONE issue that may unite Democrats with MOST Republicans—Pedophilia is bad. And pardoning a pedophile in return for getting possibly false testimony may be a bridge too far, even for some Republicans. This provides us an opportunity to pass an amendment to prevent future corrupt pardons and potentially reverse previous corrupt pardons.

I propose the following amendment to take advantage of this unique opportunity. You will see mention of a 60% threshold throughout this Amendment. I could have chosen a threshold of a simple majority to trigger events herein, but ratification or rejection of pardons should require at least some bipartisan support. I could have required a 2/3 threshold, but that requirement seems too demanding and is unlikely to ever be met—even in the rare instances where either the ratification or the rejection of a pardon are well justified.

I REALLY don’t like the idea of revoking Hunter Biden’s pardon in clause 8. He was selectively prosecuted for a relatively minor crime. Most prosecutors would have given him a pass had his last name not been Biden. However, it is necessary to revoke his pardon in order to get Republicans to agree to revoking the pardons of January 6ers who beat police officers. There needs to be something that appeals to both sides. I thought about revoking the pardons of ALL January 6ers, but decided against it because rightfully or wrongfully, both they and Republicans see them as heroes. This amendment will be Dead On Arrival if it includes a blanket pardon.

Transparently Restricting and Undoing Malevolent Pardons

For the purpose of this amendment, the term “pardon” should be interpreted as “pardon,  commutation, or remission.”

1. No president may pardon himself. The inclusion of this provision in this Amendment shall not be interpreted as evidence that the president has the ability to pardon himself if this amendment is not passed.
2. A president must obtain 60% approval of both the House and the Senate in order to pardon a former president.
3. A vote of 60% of both the House and the Senate against a previous pardon shall nullify it.
4. A president may not pardon a close relative without the approval of 60% of the House and the Senate. A close relative is:
   
   1. A parent
   2. A grandparent
   3. A spouse
   4. A child
   5. A sibling
   6. An aunt or uncle
   7. A niece or nephew
5. A president may not pardon a co-conspirator in a crime.
6. A president may not pardon any person whose testimony has the potential to implicate himself or herself in a crime without approval of 60% of both the House and the Senate. Nor may a president pardon any person whose testimony has the potential to exonerate himself or herself of a crime without approval of 60% of both the House and the Senate.
7. Any pardon given to Ghislaine Maxwell must be approved by 60% of both the House and the Senate. If Maxwell has been pardoned  before the passage of this amendment, then her pardon shall be revoked unless 60% of both the House and the Senate ratify the pardon.
8. Pardons for anyone who assaulted a police officer on January 6, 2021 are revoked, as is Hunter Biden’s pardon. These pardons may be reinstated with a vote of 60% of the House and the Senate.
9. A president may not sell pardons for anything of value. Nor may a president promise a pardon to anyone in anticipation of receiving goods, services, or other benefit from them. Any previous pardons sold by a president are revoked unless reinstated by a 60% vote of both the House and the Senate.
10. Notwithstanding the previous clauses, a president may still commute a death sentence to a sentence of life in prison without parole.