Gerald L. Baliles [former Governor of Virginia; Director, Miller Center of Public Affairs]: "The lineage of the pardon power and executive clemency generally runs to ancient Rome. British practice in the colonial period and before, itself drawing on antiquity, was the immediate precedent for the presidential pardon power found in the Constitution. The power is broad, based on British royal prerogative: "The President…shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."

In some regards, just as the founders saw the president's veto power as a check against the legislative branch, they saw the pardon power as a check against the judicial branch. Presidents indeed have typically used the pardon power to address matters of individual clemency when they have deemed a court sentence to be too severe, just as President Bush has done in recent weeks.

Presidents have varied greatly in the number of pardons they have given. Franklin Roosevelt, elected to four terms (two more than any other president), gave by far the most pardons — more than 3600. Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, and Calvin Coolidge all gave significant numbers as well – more than 2400, 2000, and 1500 respectively. George Washington by contrast gave just 16 in eight years. Recent presidents likewise have not given significant numbers of pardons by historical standards. President Bush has given fewer than 200, and President Clinton before him gave fewer than 500, although many of those came at the close of his presidency outside the ordinary review process, which drew criticism.

Since the 1860s, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney and its predecessors have been in place as a channel for those seeking clemency. The Office reviews requests and makes recommendations to the president, though the president in the exercise of his constitutional pardon power is not bound by those recommendations or by the processes of the Office of Pardon Attorney. Certainly some of the most famous pardons have been made outside this process, such as Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon.

Pardons at a president's own prerogative usually have had a political impetus, or – perhaps put in a different light – have contemplated high matters of state. Such use of the pardon power though is also not without precedent in the founders' own thought and practice. In Federalist 74, Alexander Hamilton noted that "in seasons of insurrection or rebellion, there are often critical moments when a well-timed offer of pardon to the insurgents or rebels may restore the tranquility of the Commonwealth." In fact, several of George Washington's few pardons when in office went to leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. Abraham Lincoln similarly, in sweeping fashion, pardoned Confederate soldiers and supporters. More recently, Jimmy Carter issued a general pardon to those who evaded the Vietnam draft.

The presidential pardon power is indeed broad, and the extent of its use has varied. Since the 1860s a review process for clemency has been in place at the Department of Justice, but presidents at times have still acted at their own prerogative for reasons of politics and statecraft, as the founders contemplated may at times be prudent."