There’s a movement brewing in Kentucky that highlights the unyielding abuse of power that Joe Biden manifested on his way out of his presidency. A brave lawman in Kentucky seeks to curtail and regulate the gubernatorial pardon powers in his state, to avoid such flagrant misuse of authority in the future. His mission is garnering steam, fueled, in large measure, by the public’s contempt for Biden’s barrage of pardons and softened sentences handed down during his final days in office. It’s evident that the egregious spectacle of unrepentant power abuse on the federal level has turned the spotlight on, and flagged, the issue at the state level.
While the proposed law changes may not be able to alter any federal activities, it underscores the need to understand the fundamental nature and extent of such powers. The purpose of his bill is to effect a change in Kentucky’s constitution in order to limit the prerogative of governors to bestow pardons and commutations, especially at the twilight of their terms. The aim is to inhibit these powers during the precarious periods of 60 days prior to a gubernatorial election and the time between the election and the swearing-in.
This proposition for the constitutional amendment was successful in crossing the first legislative hurdle, and won the approval of the Kentucky Senate, which is rare in its bipartisan support. It is now headed for the House, where similar proposals had expired in the recent past. Should it win the vote in the House, it would be presented to the citizens during the 2026 general election, where voters will have a direct say on the issue.
The movement is seen as a rebuke of what unfolded during the last leg of the term of the past Republican governor. During his final days in office, the then-Gov. granted over 600 pardons and commutations. That’s staggeringly more than just a couple. He couldn’t manage to retain his seat in the 2019 election. The pardons that he had granted generated a media frenzy for months in Kentucky.
Another striking instance of misuse included a man who was pardoned for a drug-related murder conviction in a state court. What’s even worse, he was handed a lengthy 42-year federal sentence for the same death. This doesn’t bode well for our justice system.
The lawmaker from Kentucky recently published a news release championing his bill, and in it, he didn’t shy away from rightfully pummeling Biden for a ‘disgraceful abuse of executive power’. Amongst a multitude of links directing readers to news articles regarding Biden’s bribery inspired pardons and his actions to help out relatives, was the audacious decision to commute the sentence of Leonard Peltier, in a clear exhibition of rampant nepotism.
Let’s not forget Peltier, the convicted Indigenous activist who was allowed to snuggle into the comfort of home confinement, nearly a half-century after he was put behind bars for the ruthless act of murdering two innocent FBI agents. However, Kentucky law doesn’t have the jurisdiction to counter such presidential power abuse, but it can definitely take meaningful steps towards fortifying trust in their own executive branch powers.
While he passionately backed his proposed measures on the Senate floor, the aforementioned lawmaker made it evidently clear that the current powers vested in Kentucky’s governors enables them to ‘override the judgment’ of their entire justice system. This is clearly a loophole that needs plugging.
He believes his proposed amendment will ensure greater accountability and transparency among the state’s governors by withholding the pardon power at critical times, just before and after an election period. As it should be, these unequivocal actions will end the tradition of hiding in the dark recesses of the last hours of any administration.
Eliminating the pardon power in this way would prevent elitism and wealth from tipping the scales of justice unfairly. There’s just no place for it among the citizens of the commonwealth.