HJRES 13 — Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States limiting the pardon power of the President.

Summary

Proposes a constitutional amendment prohibiting the President from pardoning themselves, family members up to third degree relation, or their spouses.
Prohibits presidential pardons for current or former administration members or paid campaign workers.
Prohibits presidential pardons for offenses motivated by personal or financial interest of the President or their family, or for offenses directed by the President.
Voids any pardon issued for a corrupt purpose.
Grants Congress authority to enforce this amendment through legislation.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Rep. Cohen, Steve (D-TN) [#9]

5 cosponsors

Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes (D-DC) [At-large]
Rep. Bonamici, Suzanne (D-OR) [#1]
Rep. Johnson, Henry C. "Hank" (D-GA) [#4]
Rep. Levin, Mike (D-CA) [#49]
Rep. Lieu, Ted (D-CA) [#36]

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Steve Cohen’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

Employer not reported $17,504
LEWIS THOMASON $6,600
WEST CLINIC $6,000
MEDICAL ANESTHESIA GROUP $5,250
WEST CANCER CENTER $4,500

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Steve Cohen → · Outside spending →

Actions (2)

Jan 9, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
Jan 9, 2025 Introduced in House

More bills on these subjects (8)

Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Text versions (1)

Introduced in House · Jan 9, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 9, 2025

Mr. Cohen (for himself, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, and Mr. Levin) submitted the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States limiting the pardon power of the President.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States:

“Article—

“Section 1. The President shall not have the power to grant pardons and reprieves to—

“(1) the President’s self;

“(2) any person, up to a third degree relation, of the President, or a spouse thereof;

“(3) any current or former member of the President’s administration;

“(4) any person who worked on the President’s presidential campaign as a paid employee;

“(5) any person or entity for an offense that was motivated by a direct and significant personal or pecuniary interest of any of the foregoing persons; or

“(6) any person or entity for an offense that was at the direction of, or in coordination with, the President. “‘Any pardon issued for a corrupt purpose shall be invalid. ’. “Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”. <all>

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