The President of the United States is not a king. 

The power of the President to "grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment," as envisioned in the Constitution was never intended to be wielded as a political tool for the purpose of granting unconditional criminal immunity to family members, partisan loyalists, former Presidents, and possibly even the sitting President.

Presidents of both parties have abused this Constitutional power for decades, normalizing its use for increasingly corrupt, nepotistic, and potentially authoritarian ends.  The pardon power is broadly understood by constitutional scholars to be far-reaching and largely unchecked by legislative or judicial oversight.  Therefore, the ability of any President to sidestep a properly-functioning justice system and grant unlimited pardons to whomever they choose is the closest our Constitutional system comes to enshrining the unchecked power of a monarch or dictator.

The time to eliminate the Presidential pardon is now!  The only truly durable solution to this problem is a constitutional amendment passed by a 2/3 majority vote of both chambers of Congress and 3/4 of state legislatures.  A constitutional amendment also has the benefit of being passed without the approval of the President, who would likely resist this restriction on their Executive power.

If this unchecked power of the President is not drastically curtailed or completely eliminated soon, it will likely be weaponized to enable further Executive overreach, corruption, and extreme partisan actions encouraged by the prospect of receiving full criminal immunity.  Most importantly, eliminating the Presidential pardon is popular with the majority of Americans and could be done in a collaborative, bipartisan way.  Please sign this petition and encourage our elected representatives to eliminate this glaring vulnerability in our democratic system.