Constitutional Limitations & Options for Preventing Abuse Executive Summary Executive Summary As president, Donald Trump claimed that Article II of the U.S. Constitution provided him with “the right to do whatever I want.” This view of unfettered presidential powers extended to the pardon power, which Trump similarly claimed was unconstrained. “[T]he U.S...
In The Federalist No. 74, Hamilton describes the power to pardon as a “benign prerogative.” The absence of a clemency mechanism, Hamilton reasoned, would allow for a system of justice “too sanguinary and cruel.” The pardon power was therefore necessary to temper justice with mercy. Chief Justice John Marshall in United States v. Wilson similarly characterized a...