Presidential Pardon

Extracted Attributes

• Legal Basis

  Article II of the U.S. Constitution

• Legal Effect

  Does not expunge the record but removes legal disabilities and signifies forgiveness

• Administrative Body

  Office of the Pardon Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice

• Jurisdictional Limit

  Federal offenses only; cannot pardon state crimes

• Standard Waiting Period

  5 years after completion of sentence (can be waived in exceptional circumstances)

• Constitutional Restriction

  Cannot be granted in cases of impeachment

Timeline

• Ex Parte Garland ruling establishes that presidents may issue pardons any time after the commission of a federal offense. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1866-01-01

• Burdick v. United States decision concludes that a pardon carries an imputation of guilt and its acceptance a confession of it. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1915-01-01

• President Gerald Ford grants a full and unconditional pardon to Richard Nixon for all offenses committed during his presidency. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1974-09-08

• President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (Tokyo Rose), the only U.S. citizen convicted of treason in WWII to be pardoned. (Source: Web Search Results)

  1977-01-19

• President Bill Clinton pardons Marc Rich on his last day in office, sparking significant political controversy. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2001-01-20

• President Joe Biden pardons his son, Hunter Biden, for federal gun and tax offenses. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2024-12-01

• President Donald Trump issues a mass pardon to approximately 1,600 individuals involved in the January 6 Capitol events. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2025-01-20

• President Donald Trump grants a full and unconditional pardon to Devon Archer. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2025-03-26

• President Donald Trump commutes the seven-year sentence of George Santos. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2025-10-17

Pardon

A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the jurisdiction. Pardons can be viewed as a tool to overcome miscarriage of justice, allowing a grant of freedom to someone who is believed to be wrongly convicted or subjected to an excessive penalty. The second-best theory of pardons views pardons as second-best to fair justice. Pardons can be granted in many countries when individuals are deemed to have demonstrated that they have "paid their debt to society", or are otherwise considered to be deserving of them. In some jurisdictions of some nations, accepting a pardon may implicitly constitute an admission of guilt; the offer is refused in some cases. Cases of wrongful conviction are in recent times more often dealt with by appeal rather than by pardon; however, a pardon is sometimes offered when innocence is undisputed in order to avoid the costs that are associated with a retrial. Clemency plays a critical role when capital punishment exists in a jurisdiction. Pardons can also be a source of controversy, such as when granted in what appears to be a political favor. The arbitrariness and limited political accountability of pardons have been criticized.

Web Search Results

• How Does Someone Obtain a Presidential Pardon?

  To request a pardon, an individual seeking a pardon submits a formal application to the Office of the Pardon Attorney. In evaluating the merit of each request, the Office of the Pardon Attorney considers various factors, including the person’s conduct following conviction, the seriousness of the offense, and the extent to which the individual has accepted responsibility for the crime. In addition, prosecutors who handled the case and the Deputy Attorney General – the second most senior official at DOJ – may weigh in on the recommendation about whether to grant a pardon. The President, however, may choose to bypass the Pardon Attorney and grant a pardon in the absence of any such application or recommendation from the Department of Justice. [...] From time to time, a presidential pardon may generate controversy. For example, Gerald Ford’s decision to pardon Richard Nixon after he resigned the presidency was heavily criticized at the time, and likely played a role in Ford’s electoral defeat in 1978. President Bill Clinton’s last-minute pardon of Marc Rich in 2001 was also heavily criticized after it was revealed that Rich’s wife had made large political donations. The timing of President Clinton’s pardon – just before he left office – was not unique. Because a particular pardon may be politically unpopular, Presidents often choose to grant the pardons when they may not face political peril for doing so. [...] Main Content Main Menu Search # How Does Someone Obtain a Presidential Pardon? Article II of the U.S. Constitution gives the President the power to pardon individuals who have committed federal offenses. The scope of the President’s pardon power is broad. He can pardon an individual for nearly any offense against the United States. While broad, the power is not unlimited. For example, the President cannot issue a pardon in cases of impeachment, nor can he pardon someone for committing a state crime.

• Federal pardons in the United States - Wikipedia

  The legal and constitutional ability of a president to pardon himself or herself (self-pardon) is an unresolved issue. During the Watergate scandal and shortly before the Richard Nixon's resignation, Nixon's lawyer suggested that a self-pardon would be legal but the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued an opinion that concluded that a President may not self-pardon "[u]nder the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case". The 1974 memo laid out a scenario in which, under the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the president could declare himself unable to perform his duties and could appoint the vice president as acting president. The acting president could then pardon the president and "thereafter the president could either resign or resume the [...] A federal pardon can be issued prior to the start of a legal case or inquiry, prior to any indictments being issued, for unspecified offenses, and prior to or after a conviction for a federal crime. President Gerald R. Ford's broad federal pardon of former president Richard M. Nixon in 1974 for "all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974" is a notable example of a fixed-period federal pardon that came prior to any indictments being issued and that covered unspecified federal offenses that may or may not have been committed. The legal effectiveness of such a form of pardon (an "open pardon") has not been tested in court. [...] Also on January 20, 2025, newly inaugurated president Donald Trump issued a mass pardon to 1,600 persons accused and convicted of illegal actions on January 6, without input from the U.S. Office of the Pardon Attorney. According to the April 7, 2025, testimony of Elizabeth Oyer, Pardon Attorney at the time, “That's not something we were asked to do in that context, and, in fact, it's not something that the Office as of the time of my departure had been asked to do at all in the context of clemency grants by this administration.” Although presidents are not mandated to consult with the Pardon Attorney when issuing clemency, the violent nature of many January 6 indictments, coupled with the criminal histories of those accused and convicted, has led the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary

• Applying for a Presidential Pardon | Western District of Oklahoma

  Include in your letter the date and place of your conviction, the nature of the offense, the sentence you received, when released from prison and/or when released from probation or parole supervision. A pardon does not erase or expunge the record of conviction. It is, however, an indication of forgiveness and should lessen the stigma of conviction. It is usually helpful in obtaining license, bonding or employment. You can obtain additional information about applying for a presidential pardon, and an online application form by visiting the U.S. Department of Justice website at www.usdoj.gov/pardon [...] # Applying for a Presidential Pardon Under the Constitution, the President has the authority to grant pardon for federal offenses, including those obtained in the United States District Courts, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, and military courts-martial. The President cannot pardon a state criminal offense. Accordingly, if you are seeking clemency for a state criminal conviction, you should not complete and submit this petition. Instead, you should contact the Governor or other appropriate authorities for the state where the conviction occurred (e.g., the state board of pardons and paroles) to determine whether any relief is available to you under state law. ## Five Year Waiting Period [...] A waiver of any portion of the waiting period is rarely granted and then only in the most exceptional circumstances. In order to request a waiver, you must complete the pardon application form and submit it with a letter explaining why you believe the waiting period should be waived in your case. To determine whether you are eligible to apply for a presidential pardon, contact the pardon attorney at the following address: The Office of Pardon Attorney U.S. Department of Justice 1425 New York Avenue, N.W. Suite 11000 Washington, D.C. 20530

• The History of the Pardon Power - White House Historical Association

  It is unclear whether accepting a pardon is a legal admission of guilt. President Gerald Ford argued as such; he carried with him a quote from the Burdick v. United States (1915) decision that concluded a pardon “carries an imputation of guilt; acceptance a confession of it.” However, such statement was included in dicta, or legal commentary found within a judicial opinion that does not establish precedent. Other presidents have not shared Ford’s belief that a pardon’s acceptance signified guilt. For example, President George H.W. Bush pardoned former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and others involved in the Iran-Contra scandal because he felt they were innocent of wrongdoing; he claimed such individuals had fallen victim to “the criminalization of policy differences” and used the [...] As decided in Ex Parte Garland (1866), presidents may issue pardons at any time after the commission of a federal offense, even before federal charges have been filed or a sentence has been imposed.16 Such was the case when Ford pardoned Nixon. There are other instances of presidents circumventing judicial processes in anticipation of legal action. Abraham Lincoln issued preemptive pardons during the Civil War and so did Jimmy Carter, who pardoned Vietnam draft evaders who had not been charged for their actions. [...] Legal analysts are not settled on the question concerning the ability of a president to self-pardon. A recent review of law school faculty opinion on the power to self-pardon stated: “There is no clear consensus among legal professionals concerning the constitutionality of the presidential self-pardon, which has never been attempted by a U.S. President.”18 Some constitutional scholars argue that the Constitution does not explicitly prevent such an action, given the minimal restrictions placed on the pardon power in Article II. Other experts contend that a president cannot pardon himself or herself due to the established legal precedent that no one may be a judge in his own case and the constitutional restriction that a president cannot issue a pardon in relation to impeachment. Richard

• List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the president of the ...

  Richard Nixon – granted a full and unconditional pardon in 1974 just before he could be indicted in the Watergate scandal. This was the only time that a U.S. president received a pardon. Ernest C. Brace – pardoned of his 1961 court-martial from the United States Marine Corps in light of his almost eight years as a POW in Vietnam. Iva Toguri D'Aquino, aka – "Tokyo Rose" – convicted of treason in 1949, paroled in 1956. She was pardoned on January 19, 1977, Ford's last day in office; the only U.S. citizen convicted of treason during World War II to be pardoned Vietnam war draft resisters – Ford offered conditional amnesty to over 50,000 draft resisters. [...] On January 23, 2025, Trump pardoned 23 anti-abortion demonstrators who were convicted of civil rights violations and other crimes which included violating the FACE Act, which prohibits threats and physical obstruction at reproductive clinics or places of worship. On February 11, 2025, it was reported that President Trump had granted a pardon to former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, whose sentence Trump had previously commuted. Devon Archer – granted a full and unconditional pardon on March 26, 2025, for offenses against the United States in the case of United States v. Archer, l:16-cr-371 George Santos – On October 17, 2025, Trump commuted Santos's more-than seven-year prison sentence for fraud and identity theft, ordering his immediate release. [...] On December 1, 2024, Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted of illegally buying and possessing a gun in June 2024. Hunter Biden had also pleaded guilty to nine tax related charges in September 2024. The pardon explicitly grants clemency for "any potential federal crimes that Hunter Biden may have committed 'from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.'" Prior to this, Joe Biden had repeatedly promised throughout his presidency he would not pardon his son, having said "No one is above the law" in relation to both his son's upcoming trial and the guilty verdict of Donald Trump's court trial.[which?] In a letter addressing the pardon he asserted that he had felt that Hunter Biden had been "selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted" in an effort he claimed had been instigated