Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to limit the pardon power of the President.

Plain-English Summary

This bill proposes a change to the U.S. Constitution that would place new limits on the President's power to pardon people. Currently, the Constitution gives the President broad authority to pardon individuals for federal crimes, with very few restrictions. This proposed amendment would add new boundaries to that power, though the specific details of those restrictions would be defined in the full text of the amendment.

Because this is a constitutional amendment rather than a regular law, it faces a higher bar to become official. It would need to pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate with a two-thirds majority vote in each chamber, and then be ratified by three-fourths of all state legislatures (38 out of 50 states) before taking effect. This process is intentionally difficult, as the Founders designed it to ensure that changes to the Constitution reflect broad, lasting national consensus.

This bill would primarily affect the President and anyone who might seek or receive a presidential pardon in the future. Depending on the specific restrictions included in the amendment, it could also affect how Congress and the courts oversee the pardon process. At this stage, the bill has only been introduced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee, meaning it is in the very early stages of the legislative process and has not yet been debated or voted on.