Opposing view: Amend the Constitution on pardon power

The pardon power is unchecked. If a president grants a pardon, there is nothing the Congress or the courts can do; the crime has vanished.

If President Trump were to pardon everyone involved in his campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia, including himself, the only remedy would be impeachment.

Impeachment, however, is no real check on the pardon power. When President Bill Clinton issued a pardon for fugitive billionaire Marc Rich, it was so egregious that even liberal Democrats called it “outrageous” and “a real betrayal.” But with just days left in his presidency, Clinton knew that impeachment would not touch him.

Impeachment would be unlikely to work against Trump either, given his popularity with the GOP base. The only limits to pardons have been a president’s respect for the law, fear of the public’s anger and a sense of shame.

With Trump, a uniquely shameless man, limits don’t work. He has already asserted a right to pardon himself.

It’s time to amend the Constitution to check the president’s pardon power.

It’s happened before. For 150 years, no president served more than two terms in office. Then came the phenomenally popular Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in a time of global war believed his steady hand of leadership was essential.

A few years later, a bipartisan movement, fearful of what a future president might do with unlimited terms, added the 22nd Amendment. The norm became a rule, after the norm was broken.

If Trump has the shameless gall to pardon himself, that norm violation will also require a constitutional fix.

What would be a good check on the pardon power? The Founders considered giving the Senate the power to approve pardons. Better to give Congress the power to overturn pardons within 30 days of their granting.

Trump’s misuse of the pardon could in the end improve our Constitution, fixing a flaw that has persisted for 229 years.