Trump's Reckless Pardons: Challenging the Limits of Executive Power

Since returning to office, former President Donald Trump has issued over 1,800 pardons - a staggering number that goes far beyond what the Constitution's authors envisioned for the presidential pardoning power. From financial fraudsters to drug kingpins and January 6 insurrectionists, Trump's pardons have been anything but scrupulous and cautious, as Alexander Hamilton had hoped when he pushed for presidents to have a broad pardoning authority during the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

Hamilton believed that presidents would use the pardoning power with