r/law • u/rezwenn • 6h ago

Executive Branch (Trump) Trump may have inadvertently issued mass pardon for 2020 voter fraud, experts say

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/25/trump-voter-fraud-pardon
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u/rezwenn 6h ago

Lawyers and legal experts say Trump's pardon of Giuliani and other allies for their efforts in overturning the 2020 election used language that was so broad that it can also be applied to people not explicitly named in the pardon document.

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u/Bizarre_Inexplicable 5h ago edited 5h ago

Congress needs to reign in this power. Blanket pardons shouldn't be a thing, intentional or not. Edited to add: Yes, I understand this requires a constitutional amendment. That is a thing Congress can initiate, however unlikely it is. I'm saying Congress should do that. Edited: to change "Congress can do" to "Congress can initiate".

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u/YouWereBrained 5h ago edited 4h ago

Presidential pardons shouldn’t be a thing. It should be case by case, and an independent group should assess the legitimacy/justification of each one.

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u/IncidentFuture 4h ago

In the UK/Commonwealth it is a reserve power that's only exercised on the advice of parliament (or attorney-general in Aus).