Judge in Hunter Biden’s tax case accepts pardon despite calling it ‘unconstitutional’
Experts say it’s not possible for Republicans to overturn Hunter Biden’s pardon.
Two days after President Joe Biden issued a blanket pardon to his son Hunter Biden, the federal judge overseeing the younger Biden’s tax charges in California slammed the president’s characterization of the case as an improper attempt to “rewrite history.”
U.S. Judge Mark Scarsi — who was appointed by Donald Trump — took aim at President Biden’s suggestion that “no reasonable person” would find the charging decisions against his son fair, noting that the “president’s own attorney general and Department of Justice” oversaw the case.
“In the President’s estimation,” Scarsi continued, “this legion of federal civil servants, the undersigned included, are unreasonable people.”
“The Constitution provides the President with broad authority to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States … but nowhere does the Constitution give the President the authority to rewrite history,” Scarsi said.
However, Scarsi concluded that the intent of the pardon was clear enough – even if the language in the pardon itself was potentially “unconstitutional” – and agreed to terminate the case once the court received the appropriate records from the Office of the Pardon Attorney.
“The Court directs the Clerk to comply with court procedures for effecting a grant of clemency once the pardon is formally received, which will result in the termination of the case,” he wrote.
Hunter Biden’s federal gun case in Delaware was terminated Tuesday morning by the judge overseeing that case.
“In the absence of binding precedent” for a case that had yet to reach sentencing, “all proceedings in this case are hereby terminated,” U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika wrote in a brief docket entry Tuesday.
MORE: As Hunter Biden pardon sparks backlash, experts say it can’t be overturned
In a court filing Monday, prosecutors had urged Noreika to terminate the case instead of dismissing the indictment, in order to allow the record of the case to continue to exist.
Prosecutors in special counsel David Weiss’ office, who brought both the gun case and separate tax-related charges against Hunter Biden, on Monday made a similar filing to the federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s tax case in California.
