The chief executive shouldn't be able to hand out "get out of jail free" passes to friends and family. Pardons are a bad way to rectify instances of injustice. In America, if the president likes you enough, you are allowed to commit crimes.
As long as the offense occurred at the federal level and the person pardoned was not impeached—something that can only happen to a select few public officials to begin with—there are no limits to who a president can grant this clemency to.
On January 20, moments before the clock struck noon to mark the end of his reign, President Joe Biden issued one final edict.
He proclaimed that five of his family members—three siblings and two of their spouses—would be pardoned preemptively. Biden issued similar pardons to members of the commission that investigated the January 6, Capitol riot, as well as Dr. Biden also issued a pardon last year to his son Hunter, who had been convicted on a gun charge and pled guilty to several tax charges.
This sort of preemptive pardon is rare throughout presidential history. He granted a full reprieve to more than 1, of the Capitol insurrectionists who attempted to overturn his electoral loss. He extended this pardon to those who committed acts of violence on his behalf: among them were hundreds of members of militia groups, including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
