Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said on Newsmax that President Joe Biden "can do essentially whatever he wants, as long as he's not accepting bribes or doing anything illegal," when it comes to pardons.
"The Constitution gives the president unlimited power to pardon. The courts will not interfere. When President Ford pardoned Nixon, he did it even though there were no allegations. No accusations," Dershowitz said Monday during an appearance on "Newsline."
"The pardon power is the only remnant of divine kingly authority that was left after the American Revolution. And it was, you know, debated and disputed. But the framers put it in the Constitution without any limitations.
"In some countries, in some states, for example, for there to be a pardon, not only must the governor agree, but others, a pardon board, sometimes the legislature, but in the United States, absolutely, the president can do essentially whatever he wants, as long as he's not accepting bribes or doing anything illegal."
Biden last week announced he was commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes in the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.
Biden said he would be taking more steps in the weeks ahead and would continue to review clemency petitions. The second largest single-day act of clemency was by Barack Obama, with 330, shortly before leaving office in 2017.
The clemency follows a broad pardon for his son Hunter, who was prosecuted for gun and tax crimes. Biden is under pressure from advocacy groups to pardon broad swaths of people, including those on federal death row, before the Trump administration takes over in January. He's also weighing whether to issue preemptive pardons to those who investigated Trump's effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and are facing possible retribution when he takes office.
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