Although former President Joe Biden swore he wouldn't issue a pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, before he left the White House, he broke that promise and issued a handwritten pardon anyway.

Now, several groups, including Judicial Watch, are using legal avenues to find out the details behind why President Biden felt the urge to pardon his shady son and have resorted to suing the Department of Justice to find out additional information.

Earlier this week, the conservative watchdog outfit announced that it had filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Justice Department "for all records from the Offices of Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, and Associate Attorney General regarding Joe Biden’s controversial pardon of Hunter Biden."

About a month prior to Biden leaving office, he issued a full and unconditional pardon for any federal offenses “which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024."

What's going on?

The watchdog group said that it was forced to file the FOIA lawsuit after the DOJ, at the time under Biden, refused to fulfill a records request.

The outlet noted the request at the time was for:

Records and communications of the Offices of the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, and/or Associate Attorney General or their designated representatives, about the pardoning of Robert Hunter Biden by his father, President Joe Biden.

Notably, out of the 1500 or so pardons issued by Biden as he departed the White House, the only one hand-signed by the former president was for his son. All others were reportedly done by autopen.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton released a statement on the issue.

"The Hunter Biden pardon for undefined crimes going back a decade is invalid on its face. The Trump Justice Department should immediately release any and all records about the Biden pardon scandal," Fitton said.

🚨BREAKING: Judicial Watch Sues Justice Department for Hunter Biden Pardon Records!@TomFittonhttps://t.co/iSRGn88S0D pic.twitter.com/X2gzXpuoCN

— Judicial Watch ⚖️ (@JudicialWatch) July 15, 2025

Social media reaction

Users across social media weighed in on the lawsuit.

"Biden was protected Hunter because he knew he did wrong thing," one X user wrote.

Another X user wrote, "Great! Go get 'em."

It'll be interesting to see if Trump's DOJ decides to play ball and release the records. Only time will tell.