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,

Shielding people who have never officially been accused of any wrongdoing and conducting a jail break for insurrectionists are not equivalent acts.

Biden Monday issued several preemptive pardons, some to family members. Following the transition of power, Trump wielded his own clemency power.