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

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,

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