Pardons for allies or self

Pardons can serve mercy, can correct injustice, and can also be used to shield political allies, family members, or oneself from accountability for crimes committed in service of the pardoning authority. The publication tracks the latter: pardons whose effect is to short-circuit ongoing investigations, reward loyalists, or remove the legal consequences of conduct that benefited the pardoning authority. Self-pardons raise their own structural question — whether they are constitutionally available at all — and any attempt is recorded. The inclusion criterion is the pattern of relationship between the pardoning authority and the pardoned, not the political views of either.