Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

A coder just launched Pardonned.com, an open-source site that scrapes the Justice Department and turns U.S. pardons into a searchable, easy-to-read database. Sounds simple—until the comments lit up like a courtroom TV finale. The top shocker: “Why not include the January 6th pardons?” one user demanded, zeroing in on a Trump second-term section that explicitly excludes them. That set off a chain reaction: another commenter cited a headline-grabbing line that Trump would “pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval,” and floated a wild idea—maybe it’s time to rein in presidential pardon powers.

Others went full data detective. One fan begged for offense-by-president breakdowns (fraud vs drugs vs financial crimes), noting Obama’s big total looked less dramatic after realizing most were drug offenses. Then came the “wait, what?” moment: users surfaced blanket-sounding language like “For any nonviolent offenses… 2014 through Jan 19, 2025” on a Biden family entry, joking it reads like a pardon all-you-can-eat buffet. Accuracy nitpicks flew too, with one commenter arguing a high-profile case’s restitution figure looked off.

Between policy panic, data debates, and pardon-perimeter memes, the community turned a neat open-source project into a national civics brawl—while still cheering the builder for making the receipts searchable. Verdict: the site’s clean, the code’s open, and the comments are pure chaos—in the best way.