Constitutional Law

Congressman To Push Amendment On Presidential Pardons

A constitutional amendment limiting presidential pardon power is being contemplated by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), TPM Muckraker reports. The congressman said during a public forum that he would introduce an amendment in the coming months to restrict the “president’s near absolute pardon power,” according to TPM.

Nadler has already, in a resolution, called on President George W. Bush to refrain from using his power to issue so-called “blanket pardons” of government officials involved in carrying out administration counterterrorism policies, especially those involved in torture of detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq and those involved in implementing the domestic spying program.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that the administration has not suggested such pardons were forthcoming and also that Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey doesn’t believe they are necessary. In comments to reporters on Wednesday, Mukasey maintained that government officials involved in carrying out legally suspect counterterrorism methods could not be prosecuted. Mukasey claimed, “There is absolutely no evidence that anybody who rendered a legal opinion either with respect to surveillance or with respect to interrogation policy did so for any reason other than to protect the security of the country and in the belief that he or she was doing something lawful.”

Nadler and Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) in a letter to Mukasey on Dec. 4 said they were disconcerted “by the breadth of your statement and the blanket conclusion that everyone involved in approving these policies believed they were acting within the law. The public record reflects ample warning to Administration officials that its legal approach was overreaching and invalid, such as repeated objections by military lawyers to Department legal opinions on interrogation issues and the stark warning by then-Deputy Attorney General Comey that the Department would be ‘ashamed’ if the world learned of the legal advice it had given on torture issues.”

The congressman urged Mukasey to “explain” his conclusion that government officials involved in implementing the torture and domestic spying policies were not in danger of prosecution.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on December 05, 2008 (boomark / email).