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.

After the pardons were announced, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — both Republicans — posted to X claiming that issuing pardons to Fauci, Milley and others implied they were guilty of a crime, as did other right-leaning accounts on the platform.