President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on Sunday, sparing him from a possible prison sentence for federal gun and tax convictions. The president previously said he would not pardon his son.

While controversy over presidential pardons has a long history — from George Washington absolving instigators of the Whiskey Rebellion in 1795 to Gerald Ford pardoning Richard M. Nixon after the Watergate scandal forced his resignation — few have used the constitutionally vested power to pardon family members.