In recent months, the president has raised the possibility of using the pardon power to absolve himself of criminal liability — an idea that has gone from politically unthinkable to a presidentially asserted “absolute right.”  For a country born in revolt against a king, it is hard to imagine an act more damaging to the principle that no one is above the law than a self-pardon by the president.  No president has ever pardoned himself, but two have now considered it.  In 1974, President Nixon explored the possibility of a “self-pardon” before resigning, prompting the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) to opine that the president cannot pardon himself, based on the “fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case.”  Rather than waiting to criticize such an act after the fact, Congress should try to prevent this offense to the rule of law by passing a resolution making clear it opposes so-called “self-pardons” and believes they are an unconstitutional exercise of the pardon power.  The resolution should also make clear that Congress will initiate impeachment proceedings if the president uses the pardon power to try to pardon himself and could express concern about, and potential responses to, other abuses of the pardon power that suggest public corruption or lack of regard for rule of law and separation of powers principles.  There is precedent for this kind of congressional resolution.  At least 33 “sense of” Congress resolutions have been introduced in Congress to disapprove, censure, or condemn a president’s actions, with a 1912 resolution condemning President Taft being the latest that was adopted.  Some members of Congress have recently argued for a more significant response — like amending the Constitution to expressly limit the president’s pardon power — with three bills pending in the current Congress aiming to do so.  In fact, Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) proposed a similar resolution in 2017 disapproving of a self-pardon or a pardon for any member of the president’s family, but the resolution has not attracted bipartisan support.  A strong bipartisan resolution would send an important message that Congress will hold the president accountable for any attempt at self-pardon.