Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) not be the biggest fan of the current presidential pardon process, saying during a recent interview that it is crying “out for reform.”
Klobuchar shared her thoughts over the weekend while appearing on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” and comes after President Joe Biden issued a controversial pardon for his son, Hunter.
“This whole process cries out for reform because otherwise, you undermine the justice system,” Klobuchar said.
Presidential pardons have very few limitations to them under the Constitution. Through the pardoning powers given to the president, they can pardon any federal charges and are only restricted from stepping in to pardon state charges and in the case of impeachment.
Last week, Biden announced that he would be pardoning almost 1,500 people, the widest-reaching clemency granted by a president in a single day. The pardons were given to individuals with several different circumstances, including those who had been placed in home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some of those included in the pardon have sparked controversy for Biden in the days since his action. One of those to earn a pardon included a judge in a so-called “Kids for Cash” scheme.
During her interview on Sunday, Klobuchar pointed to that pardon specifically, saying she “did not like that one.” She also said that she did not agree with all the pardons and commutations Biden announced last week.
“I have no doubt there were some righteous pardons in this group,” Klobuchar said. “But there were a number that I think make no sense at all.”
Klobuchar also shared that she was not supportive of Biden’s actions to pardon his son, despite the White House saying he did it out of fear that Trump wouldn’t be able to move on. She also shared that she didn’t agree with several of Trump’s pardons during his first term.
Because of this, she said that reform was needed.
“We should have some kind of an outside board that governors have,” she said. “Governors have the ability to give mercy to people after years have gone by, but a lot of them have boards that make recommendations and other things, instead of people just doing it in the middle of the night.”
She suggested that pardons should only be issued after a certain length of time has gone by or if the case could be reexamined by a board that looks at individual petitions.
“Might you want mercy 10 years later?” Klobuchar said. “Yes, you might. But let’s at least look at these on a factual basis and at risk basis, instead of just in the middle of the night a month before a president leaves.”