President Joe Biden’s decision to use his virtually unlimited pardon powers under the Constitution and issue a blanket pardon of his son Hunter for all offenses committed during the period 2014-2024 (Hunter was already convicted of a gun charge and pleaded guilty to tax charges) is disappointing for at least two reasons.
First, no matter how sympathetic or understanding one may be to a father unconditionally loving his son, or that these charges would almost never have been prosecuted as felonies given the particular facts, in doing what he specifically said on several occasions he would not do — interfere in the justice system — President Biden looks like not only hypocrite, but a liar.
Second, he opens the door for President-elect Trump, who in his first term blatantly abused the pardon power to protect his friends and associates, to continue to do so and justify his actions by saying, “well, Biden did it too.”
Trump is already complaining that Biden’s pardon should have included the “January 6 hostages,” which is a ludicrous declaration.
President Biden has had an extraordinary political career of more than fifty years. As president, he ably steered the country away from potentially disastrous economic and health crises due to the mismanagement of the Covid pandemic he inherited from President Trump’s first term. His legacy will now be forever tarnished by at least two self-inflicted wounds: waiting too long to step aside as a 2024 candidate, which almost certainly contributed to Trump’s victory, and now by disrespecting the rule of law (and his own prior commitments) in pardoning his son.
Ira Rubinfeld, Springdale
