Federal pardons in the United States

Federal pardons in the United States are granted only by the U.S. president, pursuant to authority under the U.S. Constitution to grant "reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States". Pardons extend to all federal criminal offenses, except in cases of impeachment, and entail various forms of clemency, including commuting or postponing a sentence, remitting a fine or restitution, delaying the imposition of a punishment, and providing amnesty to an entire group or class of individuals. The pardon power extends to cases involving courts-martial against members of the United States Armed Forces, including the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, and the Space Force.

The president may grant pardons on his or her own accord or in response to requests made through the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney. The Pardon Attorney investigates and reviews applications for clemency but serves only an advisory role; the president may disregard the findings or bypass the office altogether. The pardon power is considered "plenary" and thus generally cannot be restricted or modified by Congress or the judiciary. In Ex parte Garland (1867), the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed the "unlimited" nature of federal pardons (except for impeachment cases) and broadened its scope to include offenses for which legal proceedings have not been initiated. Pardons have been used for presumptive cases, most notably when President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon over any possible crimes connected with the Watergate scandal; the legal effect of such "open pardons" has not been determined by the judiciary.

In Burdick v. United States (1915), the Supreme Court held that a pardon does not take effect if the defendant does not accept it. In 2021, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that acceptance of a pardon does not constitute a legal confession of guilt, recognizing the Supreme Court's earlier language as authoritative.