Former President Joe Biden granted blanket pardons to five family members in the last hour of his presidency, the final acts of clemency that also included sweeping pardons for members of Congress who investigated Trump’s role in the assault on the Capitol four years ago.

Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons are a valid use of pardon power. But they break new ground as a shield for those the president seeks to protect, scholars say.

The extraordinary wave of pardons Monday — from Joe Biden as he left the White House and from Donald Trump as soon as he returned to it — demonstrate the potency of the Constitution’s pardon power, but also expose its perils,