In this edition of TPO Explains, we break down presidential pardons, explaining the president’s clemency powers, the different types of relief they can grant, and the few limits on how they’re used.
November 15, 2025
What Are Presidential Pardons in the First Place?
Pardons are an act of clemency, a unique power of the president to unilaterally grant mercy or leniency to someone involved—or potentially involved—in a federal crime.
Under the umbrella of clemency, you have…
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Pardons: complete forgiveness for a crime
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Commutations: reducing the severity of a sentence
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Remissions: reduction or removal of a financial penalty
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Reprieves: temporary postponement of a sentence
Presidents use this power when they believe the justice system has made a mistake, as an acknowledgment of rehabilitation, or in an attempt to promote national healing.
Are there limits?
Yes, but barely.
Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gives presidents the power to pardon any “offences against the United States,” except impeachment. So only federal crimes, not state crimes (see how your state handles those here). They also cannot pardon future crimes.
Other than that, there are no limits. Presidents have pardoned crimes before they’re charged (e.g., Ford’s pardon of Nixon), pardoned large groups of people (e.g., Carter’s pardon of 200,000+ men who evaded the Vietnam draft), and issued pardons posthumously to symbolically clear someone’s name.
How do you get a pardon?
The trick is to get on the president’s radar.
If you’re not a big name or close to the president (think: Hunter Biden), you can submit a clemency application to the Office of the Pardon Attorney. They review applications and present them to the president.
Receiving clemency is exceedingly rare. Over the last 25 years, about 8% of clemency petitions have been approved (see stats by president).
Word count limits kept a lot of nuance out of this article… Want to hear more? Listen to today’s episode of TPO Explains.
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CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
It’s easy to see others’ shortcomings and cast ourselves in the right. When we find ourselves grumbling about others, we must remember to check our own hearts.
“Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.”
Matthew 7:3-5 (CSB) (read full passage)
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