The Nepal Weekly 
December 3, 2024
US President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter deepened an entanglement of politics and the rule of law that has tarnished faith in US justice system and is likely to worsen in Donald Trump’s second term.
The Sunday move was a stunning development since Biden came to office vowing to restore the independence of the Justice Department, which had been eroded during Trump’s first term, and because he had repeatedly said he wouldn’t pardon his son.
Now, weeks before Biden leaves the White House, he has wielded presidential power to absolve his son ahead of sentencings later this month over a pair of gun and tax convictions that emerged from the due process of law.
His decision came days after special counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss the federal cases against Trump — over election interference and the hoarding of classified documents — on the grounds that presidents can’t be prosecuted.
Taken together, the convergence of legal controversies raises questions about the bedrock notion that underpins the system of justice in the United States that everyone — even presidents and their families — are equal before the law.
Until Sunday, Biden had not intervened in the cases against his son, and the White House always insisted that he wouldn’t, even though the shifting political environment caused by Trump’s election victory last month seemed likely to shift his calculations.
Politically, Biden’s reversal may be seen as a stain on his legacy and his credibility. It contributes to an ignominious end for a presidency that dissolved in his disastrous debate performance in June and that will now be remembered as much for opening the way for Trump’s return to the White House as evicting him four years ago.
The president may also have offered an opening for Trump’s party to rally behind Kash Patel, the loyalist whom the president-elect picked Saturday evening to lead the FBI and serve as an apparent agent of his campaign of political retribution.
There is no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the president. An impeachment inquiry by House Republicans that looked at Biden’s and his son’s business relationships — which Democrats saw as an attempt to inflict political damage ahead of the election — went nowhere. And the cases against Hunter Biden lack the constitutional gravity or historic importance of the indictments against Trump and his frequent attacks on the rule of law.
But the political impact of Sunday night’s drama could be profound. Already, Republicans are arguing the Hunter Biden pardon shows that the current president, and not the next one, is most to blame for politicizing the system of justice by meting out favorable treatment to his son. Their claim may not be accurate, but it can still be politically effective.
Trump used pardons to protect multiple political aides and contacts during his first term, including his daughter’s father-in-law, who’s now his choice for ambassador to France. But any time in the future that Trump is criticized for his use of pardon power, he will be able to argue that Biden did the same to protect his own kin.
This could be especially significant as Trump comes under pressure from supporters in the coming months to pardon those convicted of crimes related to the January 6, 2021, mob attack on the US Capitol — many of whom are still in jail.
