Other than Ford pardoning Nixon, I can't recall one quite on this level. Usually, there's a ton of pardons that would either not have been politically popular, or are obvious quid-pro-quo (Trump was the master of this last one), but a preemptive one for a large group isn't one I think we've seen before.

Biden pardoning his family is unprecedented, makes Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich trivial, blatant case of quid pro quo


The precedent of pardon-circuses was set long before now.

elvismercury

It sounds like it, in theory. Interesting that some folks didn't want it, and I'm not sure a pardon (especially a blanket one) can be refused. It's bad precedent on Biden's part, though a lot of the promised/threatened prosecutions would also have been bad precedent.