Our country has witnessed the highest number of presidential pardons in the history of our nation. As of 12/12/2024, President Joe Biden has given 8,027 pardons.
We’ve all by now seen memes on social media. We all innately understand that innocent people don’t need pardons. But 8,027 pardons?
Hunter Biden’s preemptive pardon was the one and only preemptive pardon handed out by outgoing President Biden so far. Are there other preemptive pardons in the wind?
Historically, past presidents, Republican and Democrat, have issued preemptive pardons. In 1858, during the “Utah War,” a conflict between Mormon settlers in Utah and the federal government, President James Buchanan, a Democrat, issued a blanket pardon to Brigham Young and others involved in resisting federal authority. In 1974, President Gerald Ford, a Republican, issued a full and unconditional pardon to his predecessor, Richard Nixon, for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office as president. In 1977, shortly after taking office, President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, issued a blanket pardon to thousands of men who had evaded the draft during the Vietnam War.
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The Courts have held that the presidential pardon power is unlimited except in cases of impeachment (Ex Parte Garfield 1866); is broad and inclusive nature of constitutional authority (Ex Parte Grossman 1925); and not limited to cases where charges have been filed, or a conviction has occurred (Murphy v Ford 1975).
Alexander Hamilton discusses the pardon power in Federalist No. 74, arguing in favor of its inclusion in the Constitution by emphasizing the importance of mercy in the justice system. Hamilton rationalized that a single executive (the President) is better suited to exercise this power than a larger body like Congress, which might be too slow or swayed by factionalism. He argued that there must be a mechanism to mitigate the “rigors of the law” in certain cases where justice would otherwise be overly harsh.
Hamilton points out that concentrating the pardon power in one person ensures accountability. The president’s reputation and legacy are on the line, making them cautious in using this authority.
He also notes that the pardon power can play a crucial role in times of political unrest, such as during insurrections or rebellions, to promote peace and reconciliation.
The Anti-Federalists were more skeptical of the broad pardon power, and their concerns appear in various writings, though they do not focus extensively on it. A corrupt or partisan president could abuse the pardon power to shield allies or accomplices from prosecution.
They worried that this power might enable a president to obstruct justice by pardoning individuals involved in crimes, including those that could benefit the president personally. Further, Cato (likely George Clinton) and Brutus (likely either Melancton Smith, Robert Yates or perhaps John Williams) both saw this broad pardon power as monarchical and an abuse of executive authority. There was a definitive lack of checks on the president’s pardon power.
But what about the questioning of competency when a sitting president exercises such constitutional authority?
While U.S. Courts have addressed various aspects of presidential authority and actions, they have generally refrained from directly questioning a sitting president’s mental competency.
The list of some of the sitting U.S. Presidents who have faced competency questions include James Madison, Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, and now, Joe Biden.
One of the significant checks comparable to many monarchs throughout history is competency affected by cognitive decline, such as George III of England, Charles VI of France and Caligula to name a few.
As Hamilton states, one person owning pardon power secures accountability, accountability implicitly implies being answerable.
Concerns about President Joe Biden’s competency have been raised in political and public discourse, particularly focusing on his age, verbal and physical incongruities. We as the public have witnessed a variety of verbal and physical gaffes, moments of confusion and other intelligible fog which have fueled our concerns over his cognitive decline.
A December 19, 2024, article by Diana Glebova begins by stating, “White House aides covered up President Biden’s apparent mental decline from Day 1 of his presidency shielding the aging commander-in-chief from the public and even rearranging his schedule after scatterbrained performances, an explosive report revealed Thursday.”
A bombshell report by the Wall Street Journal revealed that White House aides kept meetings short and controlled access, top advisers acted as go-betweens and public interactions became more scripted. Private discussions with the president became less frequent and a voice coach was also hired.
A former CNN pundit has offered a mea culpa for shrugging off concerns about President Biden’s mental decline.
Chris Cillizza, who served as CNN’s editor-at-large before leaving the network in 2022, spoke candidly about his lack of journalistic curiosity about Biden’s condition to serve following a pair of damning reports this week from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal that shed light on the president’s diminished state.
“As a reporter, I have a confession to make,” Cillizza began his “apology” on his YouTube channel Thursday. “I should have pushed harder earlier for more information about Joe Biden’s mental and physical well-being and any signs of decline.”
Today, those concerns take on new urgency. If a president’s cognitive decline affects the ability to exercise sound judgment, can the president responsibly wield the pardon power? Outside of Hamilton’s clear requirement for accountability and the Anti-Federalists’ warning on monarchism, the Constitution’s framers did not foresee the intersection of such broad authority with potential mental incapacity, leaving Americans to grapple with these difficult questions.
As we consider the implications of President Biden’s unprecedented use of pardons and the potential of preemptive pardons, the public must reflect on the balance between constitutional authority and presidential competency.
Can a sitting president experiencing cognitive decline effectively carry out the responsibilities outlined in Article II, Section 2, which grants the president the authority to issue reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States?
History, legal precedent, and modern concerns all suggest this is a critical and unresolved issue.
The views expressed here are those of the author.
15 Comments
Every one of those “pardons” was bought and paid for, and lines his grifting pockets. Make no mistake, he knows his grift is over once he leaves office. Justice has always been for sale under his useless and evil leadership.
I am curious as to how you know that “Every one of those was paid for?” You must have considerable inside contacts to make this statement which makes me wonder why you have not released the evidence, so appropriate action can be takrn.
I haven’t read anything about grifting for pardons. Can you provide a link that supports your claim?
Who is going to challenge him and force this diminished mental capacity issue and the pardons, clemency, and commuting of sentences? The DOJ already gave him a pass on unauthorized CLASSIFIED documents found in his garage by stating it wouldn’t be fair to go to trial due to his mental state. All those pardons and get out of jail free cards should be null and void.
DOJ Report investigation of classified documents in Biden’s garage, offices, and basement den in Mr. Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home. Throughout the 388-page report, Robert Hur painted a dim picture of the president — one that his political opponents immediately seized on — as an elderly man with memory issues who could not remember when he finished his term as vice president or when his son, Beau, died.
Notably, Hur believed that at trial Biden could come across not only as “sympathetic,” but forgetful and not capable of the willfulness required to convict. The report also stated that “Mr. Biden’s memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with a ghostwriter in 2017, and in his interview with our office in 2023.”
The bigger issue is that the constitution does not give authority to review or override his decision. Even if the DOJ wanted to, and I agree that they would have no interest in taking such action, there is no constitutional authority.
Yes, I am curious what exactly his psychologist said about his mental capabilities. Evidentally he was too far gone to stand trial but not so bad that he couldn’t continue as POTUS. Very confusing to say the least. One would think one of the most important positions in the world would require a “steel trap” mind.
One would think, or hope. Albeit no steel trap mind necessary if one’s purpose is to simply be a puppet to fill a seat. I suspect not many decisions have actually been made by Biden himself.
Do we really want to go down the road of entrusting someone’s notion of “mental competency” to an unelected person or persons? It seems to me we have a guardrail already in place with the impeachment process.
I do not know that this rises to an impeachable offense, but the 25th amendment would have been the appropriate tool. But using the using the 25th amendment exposes the farce of his entire presidency. .
Hate to a whataboutismist, but Donald Trump is the threat here. Biden, in whatever condition you falsely label him with, is out in three weeks. Trump is here for another four years unless section 25, impeachment or assassination ends his dictatorship and in that time he will reveal to the rubes that fell for his con how deceitful he is, how much damage his low intelligence, lack of curiosity and hypocrisy can inflict on what was a great country before he soiled the national bedsheets.
Jeff, I see nothing in your post that will remedy, or contribute to this issue of pardons. You’re a CNN anarchist!
It’s as if you haven’t been paying attention there, Jeffey boy, what threats from Trump do you speak of?
Why did Biden pardon his son for crimes from 1/1/2014 to 12/1/2024 unless he was guilty? And why is 90% of the pardons and commuted sentences cocaine, crack, and heroin-related? Biden said over and over he wouldn’t pardon his son and that no one is above the law and then …. He did it. It seems as if ole Hunter and his lawyer gave Joe the ultimatum to do what’s best for Hunter or they would be making some unfavorable statements about Joe and his enterprise. Make no mistake Joe and Hunter are not
Did you even go through the list of pardons and look at the kind of scum that is going free? You might want to do this and if you still think Trump is the threat then you are unreachable without logic and common sense, TDS syndrome.
A little holiday trolling? Not a single thing you say has any validity and only smacks of opinionated character attack.
Biden problem isn’t just cognitive decline, he’s a crooked SOB. What we need is a change in the pardon process, something on the line of no pardon may be granted in the time period between the Presidential election and the inauguration of the next President. This would stop the sore loser from going crazy with pardons, and at the same time force a sitting President to hand out pardons prior to election so as to show the public where he/she stands on true justice.
If Reagan’s pardons were legit then Biden’s must be