Could a future U.S. presidential pardon allow Snowden to return without prosecution?

1. The constitutional baseline: presidential pardon power is broad and real

The Constitution’s Pardon Clause grants the president clemency authority over federal offenses, a power legal scholars and commentators repeatedly note as expansive — including historically in cases of indicted but untried individuals — meaning a president could issue a pardon that covers Snowden’s federal Espionage Act charges if the president chose to do so ^{[1] [6]}.

2. Legal precedent and the “hasn’t gone before a court” debate

Some presidents and advisers have argued that pardons for people who have not been tried are politically fraught, but historical precedent exists for pretrial or pre-conviction pardons and advocates point to that precedent in arguing Snowden could be pardoned even without a trial ^[6]. Conversely, administration officials have at times signaled adherence to DOJ guidance and five-year waiting norms or rejected late-term politically motivated clemencies, which complicates any routine pathway to pardons like Snowden’s ^[2].

3. Politics, Congress and public opinion: pardon is legal but politically hazardous

Even where a pardon is legally possible, lawmakers in both parties have publicly pushed back or expressed concern — House Armed Services leaders issued statements in response to presidential remarks about pardoning Snowden — and commentators and officials have framed Snowden as a national-security liability, signaling strong political headwinds for any president considering clemency ^{[3] [7]}. At the same time, civil-rights organizations and human-rights groups such as the ACLU and Amnesty have campaigned for Snowden’s pardon, mounting public-pressure campaigns that would be part of any political calculation ^{[4] [5]}.

4. What a pardon would actually do — and what reporting here does not show

If a president signed a pardon that explicitly covered the federal charges unsealed in 2013, Snowden could lawfully return to the United States without facing prosecution on those pardoned counts; reporting affirms that pardons can clear or prevent federal criminal liability when properly framed ^[1]. Reporting in the sample also makes clear limitations in public accounts: several sources debate presidential practice and politics around pardons, but the provided material does not fully document the precise drafting, scope, or post-pardon practicalities — for example, whether a pardon would address collateral civil consequences, matters outside the specific charges, or foreign-law complications — so those facets remain outside the confirmed record here ^{[2] [6]}.

5. Recent political history: promises, speculation and missed opportunities

Multiple administrations and public figures have flirted with the idea — petitions and campaigns pushed Obama, Trump publicly mused in 2020 about whether Snowden was treated fairly, and advocacy groups continued to press for clemency in subsequent years — yet concrete pardons have not materialized, and Snowden was not included on the late-term clemency lists released by President Trump in 2021 despite speculation ^{[8] [9] [10]}. Reporting also notes partisan and strategic calculations inside Congress and the White House that have repeatedly made a pardon look unlikely in practice even when legally possible ^{[3] [7]}.

6. Bottom line: constitutionally yes, practically uncertain

Constitutionally and legally a future president can pardon Snowden’s federal offenses and thereby enable his return without federal prosecution for those charges, but that legal possibility collides with strong political opposition, administration-level norms about clemency timing, and unresolved practical questions not settled in the cited reporting; advocates and opponents both have credible positions and differing agendas, so the outcome would depend entirely on the specific president, pardon language, and political context at the moment of clemency ^{[1] [2] [4] [7]}.