| President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter is controversial. Some legal experts say it’s an invitation for President-elect Donald Trump to go after his political enemies while protecting his allies. Others describe it as a justified move to protect Biden’s son from politically motivated prosecutions under Trump. Here’s what to make of it. First, what got Hunter Biden into legal trouble A Trump-appointed prosecutor investigated Hunter Biden for years, examining his business deals abroad and whether they were inappropriately tied to his father’s work as vice president. Hunter Biden was eventually charged for tax crimes and a gun crime. He was convicted of the gun-related charges in June and pleaded guilty to tax evasion in September. Jail time was a possibility. The pardon wipes that all away Biden announced the pardon Sunday, saying he wanted to rectify what he believed were unfair prosecutions of his son. “I believe in the justice system,” he said in a statement, “but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.” “The pardon is absolute. All his cases are done,” said Evan Gotlob, a former federal prosecutor. That means Hunter Biden won’t face sentencing in the tax or gun case. Biden also wrote the pardon in such a way that his son should be protected from anyone digging into his past over an 11-year-time frame. It’s a super broad pardon without many historical matches, writes The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake. Biden can do this, by the way. “Presidents have absolute pardon power,” said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor. “The only thing that could change that is a constitutional amendment.” Why this is so controversial A few reasons. In addition to the breadth of it, Biden originally said he wouldn’t pardon his son. He’s not the first president to pardon a family member. But it’s not that common, and it always raises eyebrows. All of that could weaken Democrats’ argument that Trump and other Republicans carrying out similar moves aren’t respecting the rule of law. That could severely weaken their attempts to hold Trump’s feet to the fire on law-and-order. In his second presidency, Trump has said he’ll go after his political opponents, pardon those convicted of attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and undermine law enforcement agencies like the FBI. “I think Democrats should take a look in the mirror,” Rahmani said, “because they are throwing stones inside glass houses.” This pardon might also give Trump cover to use the powers of the presidency to reshape law and order however he wants. In a social media post Sunday in response to the Biden pardon, Trump described his supporters convicted of attacking the Capitol in 2021 as “hostages,” and said their convictions are an “abuse and miscarriage of Justice.” “It is a rich gift to those who want to blow up the justice system as we know it,” wrote Politico’s Alexander Burns, “and who claim the government is a self-dealing club for hypocritical elites.” Why this might be a good thing for the rule of law The first Trump administration overstepped when it charged Hunter Biden in the first place, according to many legal experts. While tax evasion is common, criminal charges in those cases are rare. Biden’s pardon corrects that, some analysts say. Any reasonable person could look at what Hunter Biden was charged for and realize he was only prosecuted because he’s the president’s son, said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney now at the University of Michigan Law school. “On the gun charges — I can think of once in my career as a prosecutor over 20 years when we brought this particular charge,” she said. “And in that instance it was done in an effort to disrupt someone who was dangerous who was preparing for a mass shooting.” Same with the tax charges, she says: Hunter Biden paid back his taxes, before was convicted. McQuade said it always struck her as poor use of prosecutorial resources to spend so much time going after Hunter Biden for these small-bore crimes. “So when you consider the fact the charges seem politically biased,” she said, “then perhaps ending them without requiring Hunter Biden to go to prison is in the best interest of justice.” | 
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