The very existence of a presidential pardon is bizarre and an insult to the judicial branch
this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2026
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Pardons aren't the problem. They exist to provide an avenue for reprieve in cases where the law was applied in an unjust or unintended manner, which is not uncommon. The issue is that we let a corrupt, narcissistic piece of shit become President. Obviously he's going to do terrible things with all the power available to him. It doesn't mean the powers of the office are inherently bad, it means he is.
If one man can single-handedly do anything Trump has done without check or balance, the system does not work imo. Think of the worst person you ever knew. If you don't want them wielding the power, there is too much concentrated power.
The rules have checks and balances. They just mean absolutely nothing when those who are supposed to use them don't do their fucking jobs. Create more rules and they seemingly will just ignore them.
Look at the order to release the Epstein files? Look at how enough dems cave just to give Trump everything he wants.
It doesn't end until people start being replaced or getting killed. That's where America is at and there is plenty of examples from other nations guess this goes down. Time to start reading some new books
Ultimately, the rules work fine for what they were intended to do, which is prevent one branch of government from becoming much more powerful than the other two. However, they don't work well against an entity like the Republican Party, which deliberately subverts multiple branches simultaneously. The rules against executive power have also been weakened over time due to congress ceding power to the president, something the founders hadn't anticipated. They were prepared for greedy bastards that wanted to hoard power, but people giving power away to reduce their own responsibilities or achieve partisan goals was something they hadn't even heard of.
There is no check for presidential pardons. Perhaps the pardon itself is supposed to be a check, but there is nothing to stop a president from pardoning criminals who were already serving completely justified sentences.
How's your(that) first amendment holding up these days?
I'm not saying there's nothing we should do to limit Presidential powers, just that the best thing we can so is not put the worst people in that office. Rules can only do so much. All of them have some kind of loophole. At some point you have to blame the voters for putting people who would abuse those powers in the position to do so.
Trying is a piece of shit, but literally every president does a ton of obvious quid pro quo pardons. Most pardons are bullshit.
Not even unjust or corrupt.
It's for cases where judicial guidelines are too hard, requiring a conviction which doesn't make sense.
It's for (uncontroversial) amnesty when the law is slower than the executive and not retroactive. So stuff like non-violent drug convictions.
It's for adding another chance at parole when the parole board's main concern is something that shouldn't be their focus.
The power of the pardon should be held by the House of Representatives.
It's was supposed to be the executive's check on the judicial, like a veto but instead of bills passed by congress it's convictions made by a federal court. This was of course back when there was some semblance of judicial independence, nonpartisan interpretations of the constitution, and most people acting on good faith and in the best interests of their constituents or the American population at large.
Sadly, we are now ruled by idiots who have co-opted the government apparatus to serve their own interests.
I kind of agree with other commenters that we should do away with the presidential pardon and replace it with a check that is less likely to be abused for personal gain.
most people acting on good faith and in the best interests of their constituents or the American population at large.
In the bests interests of their constituents aside from women, black people, Chinese people, Japanese people, Muslims (and Sikhs as collateral), Native Americans, Hispanic people, poor people of all ethnicities... but yeah most of the rest of the ~~wealthy, white~~ American population has historically been well-served by electoral politics for sure.
The comment was meant to show contrast between politicians who actually use their position to serve a community at all or in general vs politicians who use their positions purely to enrich themselves, often by defrauding their community.
Your statement detracts from the value and accuracy of their statement without adding anything of value to the discussion. And is thus a bad faith response.
Please try to be more productive with your responses in the future. And maybe actually take the time to listen to what others are saying rather than just looking for opportunities to get on your soapbox.
Thanks.
Considering Trump is actually selling pardons ... yea, very odd.
When it comes to pardons, congress should be forced to vote on them, or they lose their voting privilege and access to briefs for a month. If the yeas don't reach 51%, it doesn't go forward. Also, attach their name and vote to the record for the pardons, so that we know who are dipshits.
Right now, pardons are just excuses for bribes and corruption, not a tool for securing justice or national security. Honestly, it feels hard to justify their existence at all.
Wow, one whole non-plural republican?
I mean, a small crack is detrimental to the whole. One today, maybe not another for a while, but a crack looks to be forming. Not a lot, but it's something.
Don't believe it to be a crack. Republicans (and Democrats too tbh) are experts at controlled opposition. Oppose or support something just enough to get a headline out of it but never enough to influence the outcome.
It’s enough to tip a house vote, so, yeah, it’s a big deal
~~Which means they need 3 more to pass it at a 51:49 but if Republicans filibuster then it becomes 12 more at 60:40~~
EDIT: Amendments require 67. Also this is a house rep, not even a senator.
don't amendments need 67 Senate votes?
Shit, that's right, I was treating it like a regular law but that doesn't apply here. 20 GOP and every DNC and IND in that case. Also this guy isn't even a senator.
Let me know when they have an amendment to end partisan gerrymandering.
But what about the Thanksgiving turkey?
Republican Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska
Noice, they're finally starting to cave. They must be realizing their grand plan to turn the USA into some white christian state has failed.
No that's not it.
There are just a few left in the GOP that are smart enough to realize that the White "Christian" state that is developing isn't going to put them on top like they thought it would...
A few is all you need.
Actually you need more than a few.
Remember, when push comes to shove, not a single Republican voted to remove him from office after he tried to kill them.
Yeah if 13 GOP senators turned coat they could pass whatever DNC bills they wanted and if 20 turned they could remove Trump and have their little lapdog Vance run the show, or replace them both with an interim acting president speaker of the house or senate.
They have 53 total but it wouldn't even take 2/5ths to change everything.
Its Don Bacon. He still sides with Trump 99% of time, and is only doing this because he already announced he isn't seeking a new term.
Anyway to reverse prior ones like the J6 terrorists?
How many crimes have they committed since (besides the crime of attacking our government over being butthurt about losing).
Find something new to charge them with - interstate travel to commit violence, or conspiracy to commit treason, or something.
Or for nothing.
Just throw em in a cell and future pardon the people keeping them there for any related offences.
Do it offshore so then there's no state crimes - Oh no wait...
Do it in Greenland for the luls.
Theoretically. You’d likely need to get a constitutional change pushed through to even achieve the headline, since the presidential pardon is granted by the constitution.
You’d also need to get a law on the books which would allow retroactive revocation of the previous pardons.
That would been to be veto proof, for obvious reasons.
Giving Congress power to do stuff is a waste of fucking time. They have had the power to do many things and don't. Even even is supposedly specifically THEIR power to wield they have let trump use it himself
The bill was introduced by Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-MD) last December and would allow for a minimum of 20 House members and five senators to call for congressional review of a pardon, which would lead to a 60-day deadline for Congress to nullify that pardon with a two-thirds majority vote – similar to a veto override.
Listen, I think it's great that we're breaking the taboo of pardons being somehow sacrosanct.
But there's exactly one person I can think of that would get 2/3rd of the Congress off their assess to block clemency against.
I'm just sad that the bill isn't written specifically to be able to block trump's pardons.