Yesterday afternoon, President Biden issued a “Full and Unconditional Pardon” for any and all offenses his son Hunter committed or may have committed for the past decade. Despite repeatedly saying he would not pardon Hunter for his many serious crimes, President Biden has gone back on his word, made a mockery of our justice system, and set a terrible precedent.

Since the earliest days of Hunter Biden’s scandals and wrongdoings being made public, I have said he should be held accountable and given the same treatment you or I would receive. I also have said for months that Joe Biden would pardon his son before leaving office. Unfortunately, my prediction became a reality yesterday.

At this point, President Biden clearly thinks he has nothing to lose and is doing whatever he wants, regardless of the consequences. His days in office are numbered, and there is nobody to carry on his legacy since President Trump handily beat Kamala Harris. Now, it’s a sad reality that Joe Biden’s legacy will be abusing the justice system to give his son a free pass for committing countless serious crimes over the course of more than a decade.

This will not be the end of the Hunter Biden story, and there will come a day where Hunter Biden no longer has his dad to bail him out of every situation he gets himself into. Hunter will likely continue to make poor decisions and get himself into trouble because he has been given a get out of jail free card and has had his record wiped away with the stroke of a pen. Any parent knows if you reward your children for bad behavior, they will do the same things over and over again.

President Biden’s full and unconditional pardon for his son has created a new set of standards that are harmful to this country and to our justice system. Historically, presidents have used their constitutional authority to pardon someone for a federal crime after they have shown remorse, learned their lesson, and have shown a commitment to turning their life around. This power has also been used to pardon people the President feels were wrongly accused and/or convicted. None of these conditions apply to Hunter Biden.

Instead, President Biden abused this authority for his son who has shown no remorse and continues to break the law in serious ways. This is truly a stain on our justice system and should have never happened.

Jerry Carl represents Alabama’s First Congressional District. He lives in Mobile with his wife Tina.