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Updated 03/07/01 05:41 PM EST | Today in Congress | |
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 news release from BARNEY FRANK
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 27, 2001 FRANK INTRODUCES CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) today introduced a Constitutional amendment (House Joint Resolution Res. 22) to prevent the use of the Presidential pardoning power during the period from a month before a Presidential election until the next Inauguration Day. "The pardoning power should be preserved," Frank said, "because no criminal justice system is perfect, and a safety valve is necessary. And, pardons are appropriate even in some cases where an individual was in fact guilty of a crime. But, if a pardon is justified, the President granting the pardon should be prepared to defend it before the American people while he or his party is still subject to electoral sanction." "The abuses we have seen of the pardoning power -- most egregiously by former President Clinton -- came in the lame-duck period just after a Presidential election and before the inauguration of a new President," Frank said. "The amendment I am introducing would prevent this pattern from recurring." "Since the Presidential pardoning power as it now exists in the Constitution is absolute," Frank added, "nothing can undo the unjustifiable pardons recently granted. But we can amend the Constitution in a way that leaves the beneficial aspects of the pardoning power intact, while substantially reducing the chances that it will be abused." The amendment Frank introduced does allow a President to delay executions during the period when pardons are banned to deal with situations where relevant information comes to light during that period, and allows the ultimate decision in such cases to be made by the newly elected or reelected President after inuaguration. ####
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