Congress Must Pass the No Payoffs For Pardons Act, Urges Campaign Legal Center
WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Richard Blumenthal, and Representative Joe Morelle introduced the No Payoffs For Pardons Act, a bill to mandate transparency and ensure accountability for those seeking to buy a presidential pardon.
Based on analysis of the corrupt pay-to-play nature of the Trump administration’s pardons, Campaign Legal Center proposed several policy recommendations to prevent the unjust purchase of pardons by supporting the president’s financial and political interests. Now, leading lawmakers have released a bill that reflects these ideas and would put important reforms into action.
“A presidential pardon is meant to be an opportunity for mercy, not enrichment,” said Adav Noti, executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. “But the federal pardon system has been thoroughly corrupted, permitting lawbreakers with extreme wealth to use their political connections to avoid accountability. These are just the examples we can see. Without disclosure, pardon recipients can buy influence through dark money political spending, or by supporting the president’s pet projects and personal businesses. Americans deserve a fair shake, not a criminal justice system where regular people are punished and the wealthy walk free. Sen. Schumer’s legislation would address corruption by pardon seekers and ensure those who buy pardons face the same consequences as anyone else who bribes the government. Congress must pass the No Payoffs For Pardons Act and take these important steps to restore fairness and strengthen the rule of law.”
Read Sen. Schumer, Sen. Blumenthal, Rep. Morelle and Senate Democrats’ full statement here.
The constitutionally granted pardon power was designed to give the president a tool to correct injustice. This broad authority has led to some questionable acts of clemency throughout American history. But since returning to office, President Donald Trump has made the problem significantly worse, normalizing political corruption and transforming the pardon process into a loyalty-based system, where an official act of clemency can be bought.
Campaign Legal Center has been documenting the many instances of corrupt bargaining that have taken place during this administration and has crafted policy recommendations reining in this unacceptable practice. Now, Sen. Schumer, Sen. Blumenthal, and Rep. Morelle have introduced a bill that reflects these ideas and would help mitigate this threat to our democracy.
The No Payoffs For Pardons Act requires anyone who gets a pardon to disclose anything of significant value that they provided — or that was provided on their behalf or at their direction — to the president, the president’s family or organizations that exist to advance the president’s interests. That includes donations to super PACs, dark money groups, presidential library or ballroom funds, and private businesses in which the president holds a significant financial stake.
The legislation also clarifies that corruptly paying for a presidential pardon will carry the same legal consequences as any other attempt to bribe federal officials. It would ensure any pardon recipient who engages in corrupt deal-making could be investigated and held liable under the federal bribery act.
These reforms are commonsense guardrails, and well within Congress’ constitutional authority to address corruption on the part of pardon seekers. They would help prevent an unjust system where clemency can be secretly bought by the wealthy and powerful.
More information on how Campaign Legal Center is working to stop abuses of the presidential pardon power is available here.
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The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center advances democracy through law. We safeguard the freedom to vote, defend voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence elections, and work to ensure public trust in our elected officials.
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