There needs to be an amendment where pardons would need to be confirmed by 40% of the Senate. These last minute pardons where there is little consequence for doing so is simply asking to be politicized and abused. If a president can’t even get their own party to agree with the pardon then maybe there is something wrong with it. e.g. Would Clinton have been able to get most all of his party to go on record and vote to pardon Marc Rich? Would Clinton have even tried?
Just limit pardon power between Election Day and Inauguration Day. Or pardons during that period don’t take effect until 21 January, with new president’s approval. That should be the real 28th Amendment. Call it the Biden Amendment.
Maybe a few other limitations on things like Executive Orders. Probably not workable, but would be interesting to give the incoming President some sort of veto authority. (Would have to push the certification to be earlier than 06 January. Then again, “The World’s 5th Largest Economy” should be able to figure out how to count all ballots within 5 days of the election day, not drag it on for five weeks.)
There needs to be an amendment where pardons would need to be confirmed by 40% of the Senate. These last minute pardons where there is little consequence for doing so is simply asking to be politicized and abused. If a president can’t even get their own party to agree with the pardon then maybe there is something wrong with it. e.g. Would Clinton have been able to get most all of his party to go on record and vote to pardon Marc Rich? Would Clinton have even tried?
Just limit pardon power between Election Day and Inauguration Day. Or pardons during that period don’t take effect until 21 January, with new president’s approval. That should be the real 28th Amendment. Call it the Biden Amendment.
Maybe a few other limitations on things like Executive Orders. Probably not workable, but would be interesting to give the incoming President some sort of veto authority. (Would have to push the certification to be earlier than 06 January. Then again, “The World’s 5th Largest Economy” should be able to figure out how to count all ballots within 5 days of the election day, not drag it on for five weeks.)