While it would be unconstitutional—under the 1974 Supreme Court precedent Schick v. Reed—for Congress to attempt to limit the presidential pardon power through legislation, Schiff’s bill avoids that trap by seeking to create disclosure around pardons rather than trying to constrain them.

While Schiff expects such a law—which could only ultimately be enforced by subpoenas and contempt-of-Congress issuances—would be contested in court by the Department of Justice, it seems as though it would have a good chance of passing constitutional muster.

“It looks to me like it’s both constitutional and clever,” assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School Daniel Hemel told me in an email. Hemel could envision a constitutional challenge on executive power grounds, “but I doubt that argument prevails.”

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