As any constitutional scholar will tell you, the Constitution devotes as much time defining the limits of presidential power as it does defining its broad reach. But there is one exception to this: the presidential pardon power.

That broad power is clearly spelled out in Article II, Section 2, Clause 1: “The President…shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”

The Supreme Court has, in effect, subsequently interpreted that provision as allowing a president to pardon anyone, anytime, for any offense (except impeachment). In his masterful book, “The Pardon,” CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin argues that use of the pardon is the one time where a president is, for all practical purposes, a “king.”

Such an awesome power was bound to be abused, and several presidents, Republican and Democrat, have done so. Among other abuses, Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon to spare him from prison. Bill Clinton and Joe Biden pardoned members of their own........

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