House Bill Seeks Two‑Thirds Congressional Veto Over Presidential Pardons

Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D‑Md.) has introduced a proposed constitutional amendment, the Pardon Integrity Act, that would let Congress nullify presidential pardons with a two‑thirds vote in both chambers, and on Monday it picked up its first Republican co‑sponsor, Rep. Don Bacon (R‑Neb.). The amendment would allow 20 House members and five senators to force a vote on any specific pardon, creating a formal process to overturn it if supermajorities agree. Backers frame it as a 'narrow, commonsense' check on abuses of clemency, citing Trump’s mass pardons of thousands of Jan. 6 defendants and a string of high‑profile allies and white‑collar offenders, as well as controversial pardons by past presidents of both parties. Bacon, a retiring centrist, said it is 'clear' the pardon authority has been abused across multiple administrations and that existing oversight has weakened. The measure is an extreme long shot—constitutional amendments require two‑thirds of both chambers and ratification by 38 states—but it represents rare, open GOP defiance of Trump on an issue that goes directly to his power to shield allies and signal impunity. Online, legal scholars and politicos are already arguing over whether such an amendment would fatally politicize clemency or finally put teeth behind accountability when presidents use pardons to reward cronies or undercut the rule of law.