Then you’re recommending that someone needs to start the amendment process and get rid of that executive power? As it stands, most presidential pardons are granted after the convicted’s sentences have been served, and stand merely to wipe the record clean, and restore rights lost due to a felony conviction. (voting, firearms possession, etc.) They are usually not given to get someone out of serving their sentence. It can, and has been a very controversial issue, and to answer the original question a little more clearly, yes, sweeping pardons can be made.
“Many pardons have been controversial; critics argue that pardons have been used more often for the sake of political expediency than to correct judicial error. One of the more famous recent pardons was granted by President Gerald Ford to former President Richard Nixon on September 8, 1974, for official misconduct which gave rise to the Watergate scandal. Polls showed a majority of Americans disapproved of the pardon and Ford’s public-approval ratings tumbled afterward. Other controversial uses of the pardon power include Andrew Johnson’s sweeping pardons of thousands of former Confederate officials and military personnel after the American Civil War, Jimmy Carter’s grant of amnesty to Vietnam-era draft evaders, George H. W. Bush’s pardons of 75 people, including six Reagan administration officials accused and/or convicted in connection with the Iran-Contra affair, Bill Clinton’s pardons of convicted FALN terrorists and 140 people on his last day in office – including billionaire fugitive Marc Rich, and George W. Bush’s commutation of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison term.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardon