It seems most presidents, particularly Democrats, have that one family member that they really wish didn't exist. For Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, it was their brothers, for example. For President Joe Biden, it's his son, Hunter.

After all, while this may be his only remaining son--his other son, Beau, died of cancer and not in combat as Biden has occasionally tried to remark--he's not exactly a fine, upstanding citizen. He's been knee-deep in everything from drug deals to allegations of influence peddling.

Oh, and there are the gun charges against Hunter.

The younger Biden was hoping to get those tossed. He'd petitioned the court to do as much, and on Friday, the court gave him an answer.

A federal judge in Delaware on Friday denied an effort by Hunter Biden to have gun charges against him dismissed, rejecting the first son’s claim that the case is politically motivated.

Lawyers for President Biden’s embattled 54-year-old son had asked US District Judge Maryellen Noreika last December to throw out his felony firearm possession charge and the two related false statement charges brought by special counsel David Weiss.

The first son’s attorneys argued the case against their client is a “selective and vindictive prosecution” and “a breach of separation of powers” because special counsel “buckled under political pressure” from former President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

The judge found the argument "nonsensical."

Yes, Republicans were outraged at how the initial charges glossed over the gun charges and spoke their minds about it, there's just one problem with this entire argument.

See, Donald Trump and the Republican party aren't the ones who brought charges against him.

the Biden Justice Department that brought charges against Hunter and that Attorney General Merrick Garland – who elevated Weiss to special counsel – was appointed by and reports to Joe Biden.

“Defendant’s claim is effectively that his own father targeted him for being his son, a claim that is nonsensical under the facts here,” Noreika wrote. 

“Regardless of whether Congressional Republicans attempted to influence the Executive Branch, there is no evidence that they were successful in doing so and, in any event, the Executive Branch prosecuting Defendant was at all relevant times (and still is) headed by Defendant’s father,” she continued.

Whoops.

For the record, the judge did not make a ruling on the constitutionality of the gun charges, another interesting quirk of this particular case. After all, while his father is doing everything he can to undermine the Second Amendment, Hunter is trying to use it as a shield to get him out of prosecution for the exact same thing far less connected folks have gone to prison for doing.

That's ultimately what this case is about. Do we have equal protection under the law--and by extension equal prosecution--or do we have a set of laws for the haves and another for the have-nots.

Hunter's got the best lawyers he can, which gives him an advantage over most others facing similar charges but stuck with an overworked and relatively inexperienced public defender, but he doesn't get to avoid prosecution just because he wants to say this is vindictive.

Especially not as his father's ATF seems to be trying to shut down every gun store in the country in a pique of vindictiveness.

Can you tell I'm salty about the hypocrisy?

The truth of the matter is that Hunter's claims are still nonsense, even if his father were the most pro-gun president in history. You can't claim a malicious and vindictive prosecution when it's your own father's Department of Justice that is pressing the charges. You can't claim it's somehow wrong that you're facing punishment for your own wrongdoings. We have evidence that he did, in fact, violate federal gun laws. I may not agree with those gun laws but an untold number of people have done time for breaking those same laws. Hunter doesn't get a pass simply because his last name is Biden.

This bid to avoid punishment failed. It should have.

Of course, if the elder Biden wants to urge his party to work with Congressional Republicans to eliminate swaths of federal gun control regulations and put an end to such prosecutions, I'm sure some kind of compromise can be reached.