Trump & Pardons: Source of Scandal, Not Fairness

Give President Trump this much: On the “Yuck! scale,” his eleventh-hour pardons do not approach the despicable depths of those issued by Bill Clinton 20 years ago today. But they do reify, as this White House–exit ritual customarily does, that the pardon power has devolved from an obsolescence to an embarrassment in our constitutional system.

To repeat what I contended in the current issue of National Review, the Constitution should be amended to repeal it.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

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Give President Trump this much: On the “Yuck! scale,” his eleventh-hour pardons do not approach the despicable depths of those issued by Bill Clinton 20 years ago today. But they do reify, as this White House–exit ritual customarily does, that the pardon power has devolved from an obsolescence to an embarrassment in our constitutional system.

To repeat what I contended in the current issue of National Review, the Constitution should be amended to repeal it.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.