Legal Question in Constitutional Law in District of Columbia

Re: U.S. Presidental pardons

Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution says the president "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." This language seems to allow him to pardon himself. No president has ever tried to do so, and if one ever tries to the pardon might well be challenged in court. My sense is that the courts would refuse to consider the legitimacy of such a pardon on the ground that it is a political matter rather than a legal one.

The type of constitutional amendment you describe could be enacted, and the procedure for doing so would be the same one used for all other amendments. That procedure is set forth in Article V of the Constitution. The proposed amendment would have to be approved by two thirds of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, and would then have to be ratified by the legislatures of three quarters of the states. The Constitution does not impose a time limit for all of these steps, but most proposed amendments include one in their text.