A future Justice Department could prosecute despite pardons only in the spaces a pardon leaves open: people it does not name, federal offenses outside its stated scope or dates, conduct that comes after it, and crimes under state law. For anything a valid federal pardon does cover, a later administration has no tool to reopen the case. This article describes those legal boundaries in general terms. It does not suggest that any person committed a crime; several people mentioned below have denied wrongdoing.
Where it stands: NBC News reported on October 1 that President Trump said he is considering pre-emptively pardoning members of his administration before his second term ends. Our pardon tracker follows the grants issued so far.
Can a later administration undo a pardon?
No court has said it can, and the prevailing view is that it cannot. The Constitution gives the president power to grant “Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” The Supreme Court said in Ex parte Garland (1866) that “Congress can neither limit the effect of his pardon, nor exclude from its exercise any class of offenders.”
When Trump declared some of Joe Biden’s pardons void in 2025, PolitiFact reported that “Legal scholars agreed that there is no constitutional mechanism to overturn pardons once granted.” No court has ruled on those autopen claims. That logic cuts both ways: if a successor cannot cancel Biden’s grants, a successor would also lack a clear path to cancel Trump’s.
Some Democrats want the courts to test the newest grants. Rep. Ted Lieu said, according to The Hill: “There will be a test to see if pre-emptive pardons are actually constitutional.” That question has not reached the Supreme Court.
What can a future DOJ still prosecute despite pardons?
Whatever falls outside the four corners of the grant. A pardon is read by its terms, and the Constitution Annotated, the Congressional Research Service’s reference work, notes that it reaches past conduct only: “the President may not preemptively immunize future criminal conduct.”
| Gap in a pardon | Basis | Example in the record |
|---|---|---|
| People not named or not in the covered class | A pardon covers its recipients | The Nov. 2025 elector pardon covered at least 77 people, per NPR |
| Federal offenses outside the stated subject or dates | Grants are read by their terms | Ford’s Nixon pardon was limited to a set period |
| Conduct after the grant | No pardon for future crimes (Constitution Annotated) | Applies to any recipient |
| State crimes | “Offences against the United States” only | Bannon’s 2025 state plea |
| Civil claims | Constitution Annotated | Civil suits and penalties |
| The president himself | Self-pardon untested | The Nov. 2025 grant excluded Trump |
Any dispute would turn on scope language. Gerald Ford’s 1974 proclamation covered Richard Nixon for offenses committed “during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9,1974.” Trump’s November 2025 grant to Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows and dozens of others cleared them, as NPR put it, for “conduct relating to their efforts to expose voting fraud.” A federal charge about conduct outside such wording would not be blocked by it. Giuliani and others have denied wrongdoing; AP reported they argued “they were simply challenging an election they believed was tainted by fraud.” None had been federally charged.
The same AP report said the proclamation “explicitly says the pardon does not apply to the president himself.” Whether a president can pardon himself remains an open question. A 1974 memo from the department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded that “the President cannot pardon himself”; CRS concluded in 2020 that “the constitutionality of a self-pardon is unclear.” No president has tried.
Is paying for a pardon still a crime?
That question is genuinely open, and no court has answered it. In Trump v. United States, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, concurring in part, wrote that the Constitution “does not authorize a President to seek or accept bribes, so the Government may prosecute him if he does so.” Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent argued the majority’s approach would make a bribe in exchange for a pardon immune. The majority, for its part, listed “granting reprieves and pardons” among the president’s core powers.
For the person who pays, the picture is different. The Campaign Legal Center, which backs a Democratic bill on the subject, wrote that presidential immunity “does not shield private individuals who seek to buy a pardon or act as intermediaries in such corrupt arrangements.” That is an advocacy group’s reading, not a ruling. Our article on bribery for a pardon sets out each side.
Does the immunity ruling protect the people around the president?
The 2024 ruling speaks to the president, not his staff, and the Court has not said how far it reaches below him. It held that “There is no immunity for unofficial acts” and gave official acts at least presumptive protection.
Scholars note the gap. Yale’s Zachary Price wrote that “those subordinates lack the same criminal immunity as the President.” Harvard’s Jack Goldsmith added the catch: “A second very robust presidential power that a bad-man president could use to skirt the principle of subordinate liability is the pardon power.” In other words, aides lack immunity but can receive pardons. See our explainer on immunity for Trump officials.
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What have Democrats and Republicans said about post-2029 prosecutions?
A few Democrats have spoken openly about prosecutions; Republicans call it political retaliation.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told The New York Times, as reported by Fox News Digital, that he meant “the people in this administration who’ve broken the law and federal agents who’ve broken the law,” and on what should happen to them: “Criminally prosecuted, civilly prosecuted.” He did not name anyone, and no court has made such findings about the people he described.
Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management, responded to similar remarks by Sen. Elissa Slotkin: “This is incredibly disappointing and unprofessional coming from a U.S. senator — endorsing political prosecutions to dissuade patriotic Americans from serving their country.” Trump, defending his own pre-emptive pardon idea by pointing to Biden’s, told an interviewer: “But you mean I’m not allowed to give them, but Sleepy Joe’s allowed to give them?”
Where does state law fit in?
States sit entirely outside the federal pardon. The Constitution Annotated says state criminal offenses and civil claims “are not covered.” Under the dual sovereignty rule — the doctrine that Washington and each state are distinct governments whose criminal laws can each be enforced on their own — the Supreme Court reaffirmed in Gamble v. United States (2019) that “a State may prosecute a defendant under state law even if the Federal Government has prosecuted him for the same conduct under a federal statute.” Price made the same point, noting “state offenses that the President cannot pardon.”
The clearest example: Steve Bannon. Trump’s 2021 pardon cut short his federal border-wall prosecution before trial; Manhattan prosecutors under Alvin Bragg filed their own case, and Bannon pleaded guilty in state court to “one count of scheme to defraud, a low-level felony.” Bannon had called the case “political persecution.” He entered that plea in February 2025, four years after the federal pardon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a new president cancel Trump pardons?
No court has recognized any power to cancel a completed pardon, and legal scholars quoted by PolitiFact said no constitutional mechanism exists to overturn pardons once granted. Republican claims that Biden autopen pardons are void have not been upheld by any court.
Does a pardon cover crimes committed after it is issued?
No. The Constitution Annotated reads Supreme Court precedent to mean a president may not preemptively immunize future criminal conduct. Conduct after the grant is outside it.
Can a state prosecute someone Trump pardoned?
A federal pardon reaches only federal offenses, so state charges are not blocked by it. Under Gamble v. United States (2019) a state may prosecute under its own law; some states have statutes that limit second prosecutions, which vary.
Is it legal to bribe a president for a pardon?
No court has decided how federal bribery law applies to a pardon. In the 2024 immunity case, Barrett said a bribe-taking president could face charges, while Sotomayor read the majority opinion as shielding a pardon sold for money. Separate bills would make the rule explicit.
Could Trump pardon himself before leaving office?
It has never been tried. The Justice Department said in 1974 that a president cannot pardon himself, while the Congressional Research Service called the question unclear. No court has ruled.
Sources
- The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription — National Archives, text of 1787
- Ex parte Garland, 71 U.S. 333 (1866) — Legal Information Institute (Cornell), 1866 Term
- ArtII.S2.C1.3.1 Overview of Pardon Power (Constitution Annotated) — Congressional Research Service, via LII, accessed October 2026
- Fact-checking Trump’s claim that Biden pardons are ‘void’ because he used an autopen — PBS NewsHour (PolitiFact), March 2025
- Proclamation 4311, Granting Pardon to Richard Nixon — Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, September 8, 1974
- Trump issues pardons to allies linked to January 6 — NPR (via WLRN), November 10, 2025
- Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani and others who backed efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss — WHYY (Associated Press), November 10, 2025
- Presidential or Legislative Pardon of the President — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, August 5, 1974
- Presidential Pardons: Overview and Selected Legal Issues (R46179) — Congressional Research Service (EveryCRSReport mirror), January 14, 2020
- Trump v. United States, No. 23-939 — Supreme Court of the United States, July 1, 2024
- The Relative Insignificance of the Immunity Holding in Trump v. United States — Lawfare (Jack Goldsmith), July 2024
- Even if the President is Immune, His Subordinates are Not — Yale Journal on Regulation, Notice & Comment (Zachary S. Price), July 2024
- Gamble v. United States, No. 17-646 — Supreme Court of the United States, June 17, 2019
- Trump ally Steve Bannon pleads guilty and avoids jail time in border wall fraud case — KAXE (Associated Press), February 11, 2025
- Congress Must Pass the No Payoffs for Pardons Act (fact sheet) — Campaign Legal Center, August 2026
- Trump says he’d consider pardoning administration officials before he leaves office — NBC News, October 1, 2026
- Democrats eyeing investigations, and perhaps prosecutions, of Trump officials — The Hill (reposted by Rep. Ted Lieu), June 7, 2026
- Pritzker pushes prosecutions of Trump officials as part of Dem ‘Project 2029’ agenda — Fox News Digital (via AOL), quoting a New York Times interview, March 20, 2026
- Slotkin wants GOP prosecutions to deter young people from Trump administration jobs — Fox News Digital, October 2026
This article is news reporting and analysis based on the public sources listed above, as they stood on the dates shown. Where officials, lawmakers or analysts disagree, including on whether an action is lawful, their positions are attributed to them; Donald Trump Class Action is not a court and nothing here is legal advice. Facts in a developing story can change.