How Trump is Transforming the Presidential Pardon

By: Merritt Moreno
Edited by: Eleanor Bergstein and Devon Gura

The presidential power of clemency has a strong historical precedent. Its origins can be traced back to the English monarchy, where the authority of “a prerogative of mercy” was formally established as a right exclusive to the Crown by Parliament in 1535. [1] The founding fathers were directly influenced by this practice, and Alexander Hamilton introduced a presidential pardon power into the Virginia Plan that was eventually added to Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution. After Pennsylvanian farmers violently protested the passage of an excise tax on whiskey during the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, President George Washington was the first to use the power of clemency by pardoning all those involved who had treason convictions and indictments. [2] Other notable uses of the power include President Abraham Lincoln, who gave clemency to deserters from the Confederate Army in 1865, and President Jimmy Carter, who granted amnesty to all American citizens who evaded the Vietnam War draft on his first full day in office in 1977. [3] The accepted practices associated with the presidential pardon are therefore well-established. Yet, it appears that Donald Trump is changing this power in drastic and potentially long-lasting ways. 

The Supreme Court has generally interpreted the presidential pardon power as plenary, in that it applies broadly and is not subject to congressional oversight. [4] The pardon is limited to federal crimes and the president may not issue pardons in cases of impeachment. Beyond these constitutionally mandated constraints, however, there exists little legal basis for any additional limitations on how the president can issue pardons. The Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Justice Department submits optional guidelines for the application of clemency and traditionally employs a rigorous procedure for processing pardon petitions. However, presidents are not required to adhere to these guidelines nor follow this procedure during their administration – this is just the accepted practice that most presidents employ. [5] Thus, most of our expectations for how the power of the presidential pardon should function are based on long-established norms rather than steadfast legal precedent – a conclusion that sets the stage for President Trump to fundamentally change the pardon power with little-to-no legal ramifications. 

The power of the presidential pardon is being expanded and shifted by President Trump in two major ways. First, President Trump is redefining which individuals are being pardoned. Elizabeth Oyer, a former senior Justice Department attorney under President Trump, posits that the Trump administration “views the pardon power as a personal tool that he can use when it benefits him personally, politically, or financially, without assessing whether the use of the pardon power benefits the American public.” [6]

The recipients of pardons under President Trump (with the exception of the January 6th insurrectionists) tend to be in relation to fraud or white-collar crimes. [7] They are also often political figures accused of corruption, such as Texas Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar and his wife who were indicted in 2024 for bribery and money laundering. Elizabeth Oyer states that through these pardons, the president is normalizing public corruption at the expense of the American people by rewarding political allies and personal friends. She also notes that Trump seems to pardon individuals in which he sees elements of himself, and specifically defendants who have been accused of similar crimes to President Trump. Some of these pardons have even occured in seeming contradiction to President Trump’s political agenda, such as the pardoning of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted of drug trafficking. The U.S. military under the Trump administration has conducted multiple deadly strikes on boats in the Pacific Ocean accused of engaging in drug-trafficking operations. [8] 

Certainly, controversial presidential pardons have been made before President Trump’s tenure. Former President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, in 2024 after he was convicted of illegal possession of a gun and tax evasion. [9] Former President Bill Clinton also pardoned his half-brother in 2001, Roger Clinton, who pleaded guilty in 1985 to conspiring to distribute cocaine. [10] However, most of these presidential pardons have occurred at the end of a president’s administration to avoid public backlash. Most of President Trump’s divisive pardons have occurred within the first year of his second presidency, normalizing the procedure and indicating there may be many more pardons to come. 

There is a second major avenue through which the Trump administration is shifting the power of the presidential pardon: how presidential pardons are issued. Typically, individuals apply for a pardon petition through the Office of the Pardon Attorney within the Justice Department. [10] This office then undergoes a rigorous evaluation process, including considering whether the person has demonstrated good behavior in the time since incarceration, consulting the judges and lawyers who had been involved with the case, and completing a background check via the FBI. However, the second Trump administration has chosen to conduct this process entirely out of the White House without oversight from the Office of the Pardon Attorney. It’s unclear exactly how pardons are now processed through this more informal method, but it certainly has the potential to reduce the thoroughness of pardon petition review.

While these modifications to the power of the presidential pardon may not be replicated in future presidencies, some may have more permanent impacts on the Justice Department. Northwestern Legal Studies Professor Joanna Grisinger characterizes one example of this:

“A lot of people who had been at the Department of Justice and put together a lot of these big prosecutions, and then to just have the White House pardon those people - you know, these massive, high profile things that a previous Department of Justice or a previous Attorney General would have just signed off on - is incredibly demoralizing. So that’s its own additional story about the Department of Justice is people who were like: ‘I spent three years of my life and missed holidays with my kids to do this because it was so important, because we thought it was a national security threat, because we thought it was so important to send a message’ - and now that’s all for naught.”

This impact is marked by the mass departures of senior prosecutors from the Justice Department, with 14% loss from the U.S. attorneys’ offices. [11] Further, the Department is struggling to recruit and hire qualified candidates while demanding support for President Trump’s political agenda. Professor Grisinger says this understaffed environment begs the question: “What kind of shoddy lawyering might be happening because there just aren’t enough people there?”

The presidential pardon is a venerated power deeply ingrained in American history. Yet, critiques have been raised both of who President Trump is pardoning and how his administration is changing the way pardon petitions are processed by the Department of Justice. Certainly, personnel loss within the Justice Department will have an extended impact. However, it is also important to consider other long-term implications of President Trump’s changes – for example, it is possible that future presidents will adopt President Trump’s new norm of a less transparent, more personally motivated pardon process. At the same time, future administrations may reframe the pardon power according to their own policy goals. To some extent, the Trump administration has demonstrated just how easy it is to reshape the pardon process according to a president’s motivations, whether they are in line with precedent, tradition, and history, or not. 

Notes:

1. Cornell Law School. “Historical Background on Pardon Power.” Legal Information Institute. Accessed February 11. https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-2/section-2/clause-1/historical-background-on-pardon-power

2. Inskeep, Steve. 2025. “The history of presidential pardons.” NPR. Accessed February 11. https://www.npr.org/2025/06/02/nx-s1-5417885/the-history-of-presidential-pardons

3. “Proclamation 124 - Offering Pardon to Deserters.” The American Presidency Project. Accessed February 11. Inskeep, Steve. “The History of Presidential Pardons.” NPR, June 2, 2025. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-124-offering-pardon-deserters

4. Shogan, Colleen. 2020. “The History of the Pardon Power.” The White House Historical Association. Accessed February 11. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-history-of-the-pardon-power

5. Shogan, Colleen. “The History of the Pardon Power.” 

6. Choi, Matthew and Dan Merica. 2025. “How Trump has upended a president’s pardon power.” The Washington Post. Accessed February 11. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/11/24/how-trump-has-upended-presidents-pardon-power/

7. Adams, Doug and Liz Landers. 2025. “How Trump is using presidential pardon power in new ways.” PBS News Hour. Accessed February 11. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-trump-is-using-presidential-pardon-power-in-new-ways

8. Associated Press. 2026. “U.S. forces carry out first known strike on alleged drug boat since Maduro’s capture.” PBS News. Accessed February 11. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-forces-carry-out-first-known-strike-on-alleged-drug-boat-since-maduros-capture

9. Ferreira Santos, Sofia. 2024. “Biden gives son Hunter ‘unconditional’ pardon.” BBC. Accessed February 11. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwl3venz39o

10. Brasch, Ben. 2024. “Meet Roger Clinton, a first-family member pardoned long before Hunter Biden.” The Washington Post. Accessed February 11. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2024/12/04/roger-clinton-pardon/

11. McCandless Farmer, Brit. 2025. “How President Trump is changing the pardon process, according to former pardon attorney.” CBS News. Accessed February 11. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-trump-is-changing-pardon-process-according-to-former-pardon-attorney-60-minutes/

12. Dwyer, Mimi et al. 2026. “Demanding Support for Trump, Justice Dept. Struggles to Recruit Prosecutors.” The New York Times. Accessed February 11. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/us/politics/doj-prosecutors-recruiting-trump.html

Bibliography:

Adams, Doug and Liz Landers. “How Trump Is Using Presidential Pardon Power in New Ways.” PBS, December 3, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-trump-is-using-presidential-pardon-power-in-new-ways. 

Associated Press. “U.S. Forces Carry out First Known Strike on Alleged Drug Boat since Maduro’s Capture.” PBS, January 24, 2026. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-forces-carry-out-first-known-strike-on-alleged-drug-boat-since-maduros-capture. 

Brasch, Ben. “Meet Roger Clinton, a First-Family Member Pardoned Long Before Hunter Biden.” The Washington Post, December 4, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2024/12/04/roger-clinton-pardon/

Choi, Matthew and Dan Merica. “How Trump Has Upended a President’s Pardon Power.” The Guardian, November 24, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/21/trump-american-democracy. 

Cornell Law School. “Historical Background on Pardon Power.” Legal Information Institute. Accessed February 11, 2026. https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-2/section-2/clause-1/historical-background-on-pardon-power. 

Dwyer, Mimi et al. “Demanding Support for Trump, Justice Dept. Struggles to Recruit Prosecutors.” The New York Times, February 7, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/us/politics/doj-prosecutors-recruiting-trump.html

Ferreira Santos, Sofia. “US President Biden Gives Son Hunter ‘full and Unconditional’ Pardon.” BBC News, December 2, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwl3venz39o. 

Inskeep, Steve. “The History of Presidential Pardons.” NPR, June 2, 2025. Accessed February 11, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2025/06/02/nx-s1-5417885/the-history-of-presidential-pardons.

McCandless Farmer, Brit. “How President Trump is changing the pardon process, according to former pardon attorney. CBS News, November 16, 2025. Accessed February 11, 2026. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2024/12/04/roger-clinton-pardon/

“Proclamation 124-Offering Pardon to Deserters.” The American Presidency Project. Accessed February 11, 2026. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-124-offering-pardon-deserters.

Shogan, Colleen. “The History of the Pardon Power.” WHHA (en-US), 2020. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-history-of-the-pardon-power.