Elsie Law's Daily Dose Of The Law

According to the online Free Dictionary, a presidential pardon is: "The granting of a pardon to a person who has committed a crime or who has been convicted of a crime is an act of clemency, which forgives the wrong doer and restores the person's Civil Rights. At the federal level, the president has the power to grant a pardon, and at the state level the governor or a pardon board made up of high-ranking state officials may grant it. The power to grant a pardon derives from the English system in which the king had, as one of his royal prerogatives, the right to forgive virtually all forms of crimes against the crown.

The Framers of the U.S. Constitution, in Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, provided that the president 'shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.'

Throughout U.S. history the courts have interpreted this clause to give the president virtually unlimited power to issue pardons to individuals or groups and to impose conditions on the forgiveness.

The first major court case involving the pardon power, Ex parte Garland, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 333, 18 L. Ed. 366 (1866), established both the scope of the pardon power and the legal effect on a person who was pardoned."