The presidential pardon process "cries out for reform" Sen. Amy Klobuchar told CBS News' "Face the Nation," on Sunday after President Joe Biden issued a record 1,500 commutations in one day.
The Minnesota Democrat, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she did not feel comfortable with some of the convicted criminals on the list whose sentences were commuted, adding that "I also didn't agree with the pardon of the president's son [and] I also have not agreed with a number of pardons that President Trump gave."
She stressed that "this whole process cries out for reform, because, otherwise, you undermine the justice system."
Klobuchar acknowledged that "while the pardon ability is part of our Constitution, we're not going to change that... we should have some kind of an outside board that governors have. Governors have the ability to give mercy to people after years have gone by."
The senator explained, however, that "a lot of them have boards that make recommendations and other things, instead of people just doing it in the middle of the night and people in the White House."
Klobuchar also objected that the White House commuted sentences not by specific cases, but based on a broad group, saying "I have no doubt there were some righteous pardons in this group... but there were a number that I think make no sense at all. So, instead of doing a whole category, why [doesn't]... a board looks at these and looks at them individually, when people petition for them, based on the facts, instead of just in a large group."
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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