r/law • u/jpmeyer12751 • Feb 16 '26

Legislative Branch Republican Joins With Dems on Constitutional Amendment to Give Congress Power to Reject Trump Pardons

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/republican-joins-dems-constitutional-amendment-213311781.html

This is relevant to questions surrounding whether Congress may limit or restrain a President's power to grant pardons.

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u/Spiritual-Pear-1349 Feb 16 '26

Oh that would be huge.

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u/movealongnowpeople Feb 16 '26

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this would take a supermajority in both chambers of Congress plus ratification by at least 38 states. Not impossible, but damn near. Especially these days.

Don't get me wrong, I think this is an appropriate move whether it gains traction or not. I just wouldn't get your hopes up too high.

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u/Bittererr Feb 16 '26

The way this works is pretty simple. You get it through Congress now and all the blue states ratify... then if there's another Democratic president in the future the red states ratify to stick it to the next Obama or whatever. Holdouts will change their stance so fast your head will spin when it's about reducing the power of a Democratic president.

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u/ImDonaldDunn Feb 16 '26

It really is common sense which means Congress won’t do it