The Constitution gives the President of the United States broad powers in the use of presidential pardons. Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 states:
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
That power, the power of the pardon, has been generally interpreted very broadly; pardons cannot be overruled or overturned by Congress or the Supreme Court. They are absolute, and at times, the power has been abused.
Like Sunday night's pardon of Hunter Biden by his father, President Joe Biden. My colleague Bonchie covered that breaking news:
See Related: NEW: Joe Biden Has Pardoned Hunter Biden, Administration Lied to Everyone for Years
Bonchie writes:
In news that will surprise no one but the imbeciles in the mainstream press, Joe Biden is getting set to announce a pardon for his degenerate son. In September, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to charges of unpaid taxes and tax evasion, putting him at risk of spending up to 17 years in a federal prison. That came after a jury found him guilty of separate gun charges in June.
The pardon power has seen some... questionable uses throughout the history of the Republic.
George Wilson. In 1830, George Wilson and a partner robbed a United States mail carrier, a federal crime. The men were arrested, tried, and convicted of six counts, including endangering the life of the mail carrier, and sentenced to death by hanging.
But Wilson had friends who had the ear of President Andrew Jackson, and Jackson issued a pardon to Wilson on the endangering count, relieving Wilson of the death sentence.
There was a twist. Wilson refused the pardon - for reasons unknown - and was hanged. The case was argued before the Supreme Court in "United States vs. Wilson," which ruled that a pardon was a piece of property and could be refused. Jackson was criticized for pardoning an obvious criminal, but Jackson wasn't one to pay much attention to critics.
Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Edmund Spangler. All three men were involved, in one way or another, in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Mudd was a doctor who treated the injured John Wilkes Booth and later claimed he had no involvement in the assassination, although he knew Booth from previous meetings. Samuel Arnold had been involved in a plan to kidnap President Lincoln, while Spangler was present in Ford's Theater and prevented at least one man from pursuing Booth by striking him in the face.
All three men were controversially pardoned by President Andrew Johnson, presumably in the name of "unity." Sound familiar?
And the big recent one:
Richard Nixon. Nixon resigned in disgrace after the Watergate scandal broke and was pardoned by Gerald Ford. Ford repeatedly stated that he pardoned Nixon to spare the country the trauma of putting a former President of the United States on trial, but he later admitted that the pardon likely cost him the 1976 election.
The presidential pardon has been used for a variety of reasons: protecting the company from a traumatic trial, re-uniting a nation wracked by war, or as a personal favor. But now we have seen it used to excuse influence peddling and corruption.
Which brings us to Hunter Biden. As Bonchie notes in the piece linked above, Joe Biden has decided, despite all of his denials, that he will issue a presidential pardon for his son, Hunter. A blanket pardon, even, absolving Hunter of everything.
WOW: This pardon is sweeping. Anything crimes he committed or “may have committed for an 11 year period. pic.twitter.com/b70cdxPVSP
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 2, 2024
This is egregious. This is an abuse of the power of the presidency for personal reasons. Granted, the Constitution allows President Biden (or whoever is pulling his strings) to do this. The pardon is legal. By the Constitution, it cannot be challenged or overturned. But being legal does not make it just.
See Related: Will Trump Pardon Hunter Biden?
Hunter Biden Virtually Begs Dad to Pardon Him in Aggressive 52-Page Public Letter
Trump Reacts to Hunter Biden Pardon: 'Such an Abuse and Miscarriage of Justice!'
One of the best pieces of wisdom my father passed on to me was, "You never stop being a parent." For most of us, there isn't anything we wouldn't do for our children, even if they were screwing up as badly as Hunter did with his drug and alcohol abuse and illegal gun purchases. But the corruption and influence peddling is another story. Hunter Biden arguably engaged in actions to influence government policy, and he did so in return for a considerable payment - 10 percent of which reportedly went to "The Big Guy."
This wasn't just a pardon. It was a cover-up. And due to the irrevocable nature of the presidential pardon, it's final.
