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Joe Biden is drawing condemnation from political allies for setting a new precedent in American history by pardoning the first presidential offspring.
And all they can really do is complain.
Since the president’s general pardon for his son, Hunter Bidenlast weekend highlighted the expansive power of the US presidency, and it can only grow.
Congress can do virtually nothing to limit the power of pardons, which has been reaffirmed in several Supreme Court decisions over the generations.
In 1866 and 1871The Supreme Court ruled that Congress could not revoke a pardon; inside 1974it stated that Congress could not alter, abridge, or diminish the powers set forth in the Constitution.
What about constitutional amendments? Such an opportunity. That requires three-fourths of the states and possibly two-thirds of the votes in both houses of Congress.
This is due to a new Decision of the Supreme Court this makes it even more difficult to impeach the president for acts committed while in office, or even to gather evidence for a trial.
WATCH | US President Joe Biden pardons his son Hunter Biden:
US President Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter, keeping him out of prison for federal crimes and tax convictions, despite earlier promises to avoid using the president’s powers to benefit the family.
One of the country’s founders, George Mason, was afraid that the power of pardon might to destroy American Republic and restore the monarchy.
And now a future president will take office who has already been accused of repeatedly abusing his pardon power.
In his first term, Donald Trump pardoned several friends, political allies, people who agreed not to testify against him, and his nominee for the next ambassador to France: Charles Kouchner, his father-in-law.
In his second term, Trump has already said he would pardon supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021; he is now indicating he will use Hunter Biden’s pardon as an excuse.
Several Democrats expressed concern Monday that Biden’s move would only complicate their own future efforts to call out Trump’s wrongdoing.
“President Biden’s decision to pardon his son was wrong,” Michigan Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat, said in a post on social media platform X.
“This was an abuse of power, it undermines trust in our government and encourages others to pursue justice to suit their own interests.”
There were several such lamentations from Capitol Hill.
Colorado Senator Michael Bennett said the president is putting personal interests ahead of duty and is further eroding the public’s faith in the justice system.
One congressman, Greg Landsman, said, “As a father, I get it.” But as someone who wants to restore public faith in government, he called it a failure.
Biden also has defenders
Not everyone was so critical.
Some of Biden’s defenders were more brazen than others. One congresswoman, Jasmine Crockett, actually congratulated Biden.
“Okay, Joe,” Crockett, a former public defender, told MSNBC. She called the case against Hunter Biden politically motivated and said the president did the right thing.
WATCH | The impact of this precedent-setting presidential pardon:
In a sweeping act by the US president ahead of his term ending next month, Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, having previously said he would not. Andrew Chang breaks down the pardon, which covers any criminal activity Hunter may have committed in the past 10 years, and explains why the president reversed course.
She also lamented that a convicted felon was about to become president, adding: “To anyone who wants to clutch their pearls now… I would say look in the mirror.”
In an interview with CBC News, the former federal prosecutor and frequent Trump critic took a more measured approach.
When asked if the Biden pardon was unethical or hypocritical given how often the White House denied it would happen, Nick Ackerman essentially agreed.
“I can’t disagree with that at all,” Ackerman, a former New York prosecutor who worked on the Watergate case, told the CBC News Network.
But he added that he couldn’t blame Biden either.
He said that the incoming president has repeatedly indicated that he intends to punish political enemies; Trump has also posted hardcore partisans in the key justice roles.
“I think it’s a legitimate (concern),” Ackerman said.
“If you had your child going through the federal prison system and you knew it was going to be run by political operatives who have vowed revenge against the enemies of Donald Trump, I don’t know how many people wouldn’t do the same under those circumstances.”
Controversial pardon powers
Ackerman called Trump the biggest abuser of the pardon system to date.
Previously, Bill Clinton was criticized forgiveness his half-brother, Roger, on his last day in office for an old cocaine distribution conviction, as well a rich donor.
Other controversial uses of the power include the pardoning of former Confederates after the Civil War and the amnesty granted to former President Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal.
UCLA constitutional scholar John Michaels, interviewed by CBC News, shared Ackerman’s assessment, summing up his mixed feelings: “Is this a healthy way to run a country? No, but we’re not in a particularly healthy moment as a country.”
This first paternal pardon includes the conviction of Hunter Biden for delinquent taxes. He also illegally possessed a gun 11 days after lying on a mandatory form about his previous drug use. He was convicted this year and he faced a potentially long sentence.
In explaining the pardon, Biden said that these types of charges are almost never brought and would not have been brought here if not for political pressure.
“It’s clear that Hunter was treated differently,” the president explained.
“No reasonable person looking at the facts of the Hunter cases can come to any conclusion other than that Hunter was singled out simply because he’s my son — and that’s wrong … Enough is enough.”
What Hunter Biden was and wasn’t accused of
Republicans have long insisted there is a more complicated story that could have led to additional charges and more embarrassing questions for the Biden family.
Despite this, Hunter Biden never registered as a foreign agent receiving hundreds of thousands dollars from Chinese, Romanian and Ukrainian authorities, in part to help introduce their clients to American officials.
WATCH | Breaking down what we know about the Hunter Biden scandal:
Depending on the political spectrum, the controversy surrounding US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter is either one of the biggest corruption scandals in American history or a right-wing partisan joke. CBC’s Alex Panetta breaks down what we know, what we don’t know, and what’s next.
In a contentious hearing last year, a judge asked whether Biden could possibly still be charged with being an unregistered foreign agent.
It determined a heated exchange between Biden’s lawyers and the prosecution. As a result of this exchange, the previous foundation deal fell apart.
Trump in public entered into the transactioncriticizing his own appointed prosecutor and calling him a coward.
Prosecutors later added new gun charges that also implicated Hunter Biden convicted this yearand awaited his punishment.
It all ended on Sunday. In an unusually broad pardon, his father cleared him of any federal crime he may have committed between January 1, 2014 and December 1, 2024.
Some legal writers have argued that the exchange might be fair—meaning an amnesty from imprisonment.
But that wouldn’t have shielded Hunter Biden from any additional prosecution related to previous federal charges; this will.
Although the president has his defenders, the reaction in Washington was summed up in a column A Politico news headline titled “Joe Biden’s Divorce Insult.”
“Voters now know what his name as Biden is worth,” said the article, which criticized the president for breaking his no-pardon pledge.
“Biden is stepping down from a presidency he insisted was about saving democracy in an ostentatious vote of no confidence in institutions his successor apparently plans to attack.”
