Biden was right to pardon his son and he should do a lot more before it’s too late

A member of the president’s family was convicted of tax crimes and making false statements. Many believe the prosecution was unjust. And then came the pardon. And the criticism.

No, not Hunter Biden. In December of 2020, President Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner’s father (Jared is married to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka). It was not just Kushner. Trump pardoned Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and other allies.

Now enter President Biden. He pardoned his son Hunter on Sunday for tax crimes and making false statements. The criticism from both sides of the aisle was fast and furious.

But Biden was right to pardon his son. For starters, any parent would do the same thing. There can be lots of debate about whether Biden should have made promises about pardons (he should not have) or whether Hunter would have been prosecuted if his last name was not Biden (he would not have). And so on. But there should be no debate that a father should forgive his kid, whether he’s president or not.

And those who are criticizing Biden for abandoning “the rule of law” by issuing a pardon miss the whole point of this power. By definition, a pardon will be for someone who has committed a crime. So those who are upset about “the rule of law” would not agree with any pardon. Take it up with the Framers.

Now that Hunter’s pardon is done, President Biden needs to lean into his pardon and clemency power. The truth is that the federal criminal justice system is littered with terribly unjust convictions and sentences. The president of the United States has the power, granted to him by our Constitution, to fix these injustices — either by pardoning a person convicted of a federal crime or by commuting a sentence.

Unfortunately, President Biden has barely used that power to date. Putting aside pardons for possession of marijuana, he has granted only 26 pardons and 131 commutations (which is about 1 percent of all the petitions submitted to the pardon office to date). And almost none of these are white collar offenses, which get very little attention for this sort of review. In that respect, Hunter’s pardon is, unfortunately, pretty unique.

Instead of condemnation for showing love and mercy to his son, we should be embracing Biden’s decision. And we should be encouraging him to show that same mercy to so many well-deserving people who are serving unjust sentences, and in many cases, for unjust convictions.

Many presidents issue a few pardons and commutations at the end of their term to show at least a little mercy. But President Biden has the opportunity do something truly special and unique — clear the board of the many unjust convictions and sentences in our federal system. Don't be stingy, President Biden. Don't succumb to fear. Don’t listen to all of the noise about doing the right thing for your son. Now it’s time to do the right thing for so many others and make our criminal justice system just a little more fair.

David Oscar Markusis a criminal defense attorney. He tries cases and argues appeals throughout the country. Markus runs the Southern District of Florida blog and hosts a podcast.

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