Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States limiting the pardon power of the President.

Bill: 117-hjres-4
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9]
Introduced: 2021-01-04
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Constitution and constitutional amendments

Criminal procedure and sentencing

Elections, voting, political campaign regulation

Family relationships

Federal officials

Government ethics and transparency, public corruption

Presidents and presidential powers, Vice Presidents
Latest action: action_date: 2021-03-04
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-01-04
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This joint resolution proposes a constitutional amendment limiting the pardon power of the President.</p> <p>The amendment prohibits the President from granting a pardon or reprieve to himself or herself, to family members or members of the administration, to paid campaign employees, to a person or entity for an offense motivated by an interest of any of those people, or to a person or entity for an offense directed by or coordinated with the President. </p> <p>The amendment also invalidates pardons issued for a corrupt purpose.</p>

tv_txt: IA 117th CONGRESS 1st Session H. J. RES. 4 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES January 4, 2021 Mr. Cohen (for himself, Mr. Beyer , Mr. Green of Texas , Ms. Norton , Mr. Cooper , Mr. Blumenauer , Ms. Schakowsky , Mr. Payne , Mr. Cicilline , and Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania ) submitted the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States limiting the pardon power of the President.

That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification: — The President shall not have the power to grant pardons and reprieves to— (1) himself or herself; (2) any family member, up to a third degree relation, of the President, or a spouse thereof; (3) any current or former member of the President’s administration; (4) any person who worked on the President’s presidential campaign as a paid employee; (5) any person or entity for an offense that was motivated by a direct and significant personal or pecuniary interest of any of the foregoing persons; or (6) any person or entity for an offense that was at the direction of, or in coordination with, the President. Any pardon issued for a corrupt purpose shall be invalid. .