Unraveling of Law

Dear Readers, The fabric of our society is the law.  We are politically divided.  Each side accuses the other of abusing the legal system.  Both sides are guilty of unraveling it and no one seems to care; you might not, but you should.

We will get to one of the consequences of our presidential election and the potential damage to the rule of law, but first, we turn to Hunter Biden’s legal saga.  There is no doubt that he has been targeted by partisans in an attempt to politically ruin his father.  He has been an unfortunate pawn in a political war of gladiators.  

The infamous laptop.  It was filled with Hunter Biden’s data, this is true.  However, the story of how it came into the possession of Rudy Giuliani is unbelievable.  It was clearly a compromised plant; it is not unreasonable to suspect that Russians were involved.  

This is not the end of the story though, even if it seems like the beginning.  For that, we have to go back to the car accident that killed Hunter’s mother and sister, nearly killing him and his brother, Beau, and nearly draining his father of the will to live.  The family persevered, Beau thrived and rose to Attorney General of Delaware and became a political star, while Hunter sank into debauchery and drug abuse.  Where Beau traded on his familial name to make something of himself, Hunter used it to cravingly acquire wealth and continue with his hedonistic lifestyle.

Hunter Biden does not deserve our sympathy.  He may have made poor life choices, a product of a horrible life story.  He is the epitome of the prodigal son and the last of Joe Biden’s tattered first family.  Imagine his grief, after Beau had succumbed to an aggressive form of cancer.  Hunter becomes the means for his political enemies to attempt to exploit a blood weakness.  A real-life Greek tragedy.

The conservative political hounds hunted for blood.  They found it, as Hunter Biden failed to pay his taxes and correctly complete a form for buying a handgun, one that he may have obtained to kill himself.  Joe Biden stood by, as the legal jackals gathered.  A prosecution started during the Trump Administration, he permitted to go forward.  He could have stopped it, just like Donald Trump torpedoed the prosecution of Michael Flynn.

Biden’s Justice Department appointed David Weiss as a special prosecutor.  A plea deal fell apart, leading to a jury trial, and a conviction.  A second trial was set to begin, only to result in a guilty on the eve of the jury being empaneled.  Who knows what promises were made in back channels.  

What we now know is that President Biden has done the unthinkable.  He has made a farce of his respect for the rule of law by pardoning his son.  One can understand why a father would want to protect his progeny, but this does not excuse his action.  Hunter may be a victim of his family name, but he also profited from it.  If there are legal consequences, he needs to face them.  For shame.

Like a spiraling unwinding of our Constitution, President-elect Trump continues our legal descent.  He says he is appointing Kash Patel as FBI Director.  In doing so, this breaks decorum not once but twice.  

Before appointing him, Christopher Wray would have to be fired, before the end of his 10-year term.  During his first term, President Trump had illegally fired James Comey for reasons that were never challenged.  

J. Edgar Hoover served as FBI Director for 48 years, under 8 presidents, and 18 attorney generals.  He was a tyrant and abused his position, using his secrets as a source of almost unrivaled power.  To protect against such a future political monster, in making changes post-Watergate, Congress dictated that FBI Directors would henceforth serve for 10 years, meaning they were unmoored from a specific President.  This is why President Biden inherited Chris Wray and President Trump should have to keep him until his present term expires in  2027.

This second decorum obliterated by Kash Patel’s expected nomination is that he has no experience in the FBI. He would be commanding a Bureau who know him not, except as a possible January 6^th conspirator.

Pardoning Hunter Biden is an irrevocable stain on his father’s legacy.  If Kash Patel is appointed FBI Director as a J. Edgar Hoover doppelgänger, our independent FBI will also be stained irrevocably.  Our law shudders.

Warner Robins attorney Jim Rockefeller is the former Chief Assistant District Attorney for Houston County, and a former Assistant State Attorney in Miami.  Owner of Rockefeller Law Center, Jim has been in private practice since 2000.  E-mail your comments or confidential legal questions to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com.