Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States providing that there is no immunity from criminal prosecution for an act on the grounds that such act was within the constitutional authority or official duties of an individual, and providing that the President may not grant a pardon to himself or herself.

Key Points

• This proposed constitutional amendment would strip immunity from criminal prosecution for all federal officials, including the president, vice president, and members of Congress, when they claim their actions were part of their official duties.
• The amendment would explicitly ban the president from pardoning themselves for federal offenses, settling a long-running legal question that has never been fully resolved by the courts.
• The proposal preserves one existing protection: the Speech or Debate Clause, which shields members of Congress from prosecution for their legislative speech and debate activities on the floor.
• Because this is a constitutional amendment, it faces an extremely high bar for passage. It needs a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, followed by ratification from three-fourths of all state legislatures.
• The amendment is designed to take effect on its own without needing additional laws, though Congress could pass follow-up legislation to help carry it out.