In his new novel, Tom Clancy uses the plot device of having blank presidential pardons. These are a hundred pardons signed by a President before he left office with the name and date left blank. Clancy’s characters naturally say these are perfectly legal but I have to seriously question whether that’s true outside of the Clancyverse.
Is there a legal principle that Presidential pardons must be enacted during the term of the President who signed them? Or that they must be signed with a specific receipient in mind? Do they have an expiration date? If Charles Manson got his hands on a blank pardon signed by John Quincy Adams, could he fill in his name and walk out of prison?
I don’t think there’s any serious question that these would be ineffective. The pardon power is a function of the Executive authority. Therefore, by definition, the only person who can issue them is the Executive – not a former executive. The pardon is not a piece of paper or even a signature – it’s an act, a specific one, and it requires some de minimis specificity as to what it is directed to. Furthermore, as to actions committed in the future, the former president has no power over them, because by the time they were committed, he was not in a position to give pardons.