29-05-2025
Can someone pardoned by president vote again? Can they run for office? What it means
President Donald Trump has issued a wave of presidential pardons this week, one of which was former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfield, who was convicted on federal bribery and extortion charges.
The president's pardons also include reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were found guilty of conspiring to defraud community banks in Atlanta out of more than $36 million, and rapper NBA YoungBoy, who pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge in 2024.
So, what is a presidential pardon? Can those pardoned vote? Can they run for office? Here's what to know.
The president's clemency powers, or the ability to forgive Americans of crimes, is defined in the Constitution, which says presidents can "grant reprieves and pardons" for offenses against the U.S. The only offense the president cannot pardon is impeachment.
The presidential pardon, or full pardon, is the most well-known forgiveness. It absolves a person of wrongdoing and restores any civil rights lost "without qualification."
A pardon often implies that the convicted person has taken responsibility for their actions and is forgiven by the president. It can restore some civil abilities that would otherwise be barred due to the criminal conviction, according to the Department of Justice.
A pardon is merely an expression of the president's forgiveness and "does not signify innocence," according to the DOJ. Pardons can, however, help eliminate some of the consequences of conviction and restore a person's civil rights.
The DOJ states the offense is not removed from a person's criminal record after being pardoned. Instead, the conviction and pardon both appear on the record.
Pardons can help those previously convicted obtain licenses, bonding or employment.
An individual seeking a pardon must submit a formal application to the Office of the Pardon Attorney. In evaluating the merit of each request, the Office of the Pardon Attorney considers several factors, such as a person's conduct following conviction, the seriousness of the offense and the extent to which the individual has accepted responsibility for the crime, according to Chicago-based law firm MoloLamken LLP.
Prosecutors who handled the case and the deputy attorney general (the second most senior official at the DOJ) may weigh in on the recommendation about whether to grant a pardon.
The president, however, can bypass the pardon attorney and grant a pardon in the absence of any such application or recommendation from the DOJ.
Yes. Since the pardon represents legal forgiveness, it ends any further punishment and restores the convicted person's rights, such as being able to vote.
Yes. Just like voting, convicted persons pardoned by the president can run for public office.
Yes. In fact, a presidential pardon is the only way a person convicted of a federal felony offense may obtain a firearm, according to the DOJ.
There are no limits to how many people the president may pardon.
America's first president, George Washington, made the first presidential pardon. He used the promise of a pardon to stop a group of farmers and distillers from Pennsylvania's violent protests of the federal government's ban on whiskey and other liquor, which later came to be known as the Whiskey Rebellion.
Other historic pardons include former President Richard Nixon's pardon by his vice president, Gerald Ford, who took over the Oval Office when Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate scandal, and former President Bill Clinton's pardon of his brother, Roger, who was convicted on drug charges.
Presidential pardons peaked during former President Franklin Roosevelt's time in office. During his four terms, Roosevelt granted 2,819 pardons, many of which were wartime offenses from World War I. He also commuted 488 prison sentences and remitted 477 fines, according to the DOJ archives.
Former President Joe Biden granted more acts of clemency than any previous chief executive, according to the Pew Research Center. During his tenure as president, Biden granted 4,245 acts of clemency (80 pardons and 4,165 commutations).
Former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who served 13 years in office, issued the second-most clemency acts with 3,796 (2,819 pardons and 488 commutations).
During Trump's first presidential term, he granted 238 acts of clemency, which consisted of 143 pardons and 94 commutations, according to the Pew Research Center.
USA TODAY reporters Kinsey Crowley and Ella Lee contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Can someone pardoned by president vote again? Can they run for office?
