Hunter Biden's pardon shows rulebook being rewritten

Biden may be criticised for breaking his promise and for using his presidential power to protect his son Hunter. (Getty Images)

Washington, December 2 — Joe Biden had repeatedly denied that he was going to pardon his son Hunter for his gun and tax evasion convictions or commute what was shaping up to be a substantive prison sentence.

On the Sunday evening after Thanksgiving – at a moment when the American public’s attention was decidedly elsewhere – he announced he had changed his mind.

“There has been an effort to break Hunter - who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution,” he wrote in a press statement announcing his decision. “In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me - and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”

The president’s explanation might sound familiar to anyone who has listened to Donald Trump rail against America’s system of justice in recent years.

Trump, as he exited the White House in 2021, issued a series of pardons for his close associates and allies who had been swept up in the multiple criminal investigations that encircled him throughout his presidential term. In doing so, he bypassed established White House procedures for exercising the broad presidential pardon power. And although he was criticised for the action at the time, there were little if any political consequences.

Biden may be criticised as well – for breaking his promise and for using his presidential power to protect his son. One Democratic governor, Jared Polis of Colorado, quickly released a statement saying he was “disappointed” and that the move would “tarnish” the outgoing president’s reputation.

With Biden’s political career drawing to a close, however, there is little price he will pay for his action. The national attention will quickly shift back to the incoming Trump presidency.

The rules governing presidential pardoning – or at the very least the processes and established guardrails that had guided its use – appear to have been fundamentally and permanently altered. At this point there may be scarce grounds for anyone to complain, no matter on which side of the political aisle they stand.

The Trump camp was quick to issue a response to the news of the Biden pardon, saying that the president-elect would fix the US justice system and restore due process in his second term.

It’s something to keep in mind when Trump returns to office, as he is expected to again use his pardoning power to aid associates who have been prosecuted during the Biden presidency – and to free many of his supporters who have been convicted during the 6 January 2021 assault on the US Capitol.