There are growing questions about whether or not Hunter Biden's legal problems will end with a pardon from his father.

Yet while Hunter's legal fate remains uncertain, President Joe Biden recently pardoned other drug users in a move that critics say undermines the rule of law. 

New marijuana pardon expands on earlier proclamation from last year

As Just the News contributor Ben Whedon pointed out in an article published this past Friday, Biden issued "a sweeping pardon for simple possession and marijuana use under D.C. and federal law."

According to NBC News, the president's move last week expands an earlier marijuana pardon proclamation that he signed in 2022.

President Biden will sign a proclamation to pardon certain marijuana offenses Friday, building on broader action he took last year for thousands of people convicted of possession under federal law, the White House says. https://t.co/XjtrgcJADE

— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 22, 2023

"Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities," Biden was quoted as saying in a statement.

Biden using "executive fiat rather than negotiating with the divided Congress"

"Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time that we right these wrongs," the president went on to insist before calling on state governors to take similar actions.

In his opinion piece, Whedon argued that Biden's mass pardons represent an end run around the Constitution's separation of powers.

Specifically, he accused the White House of attempting "to enact substantial policy reforms via executive fiat rather than negotiating with the divided Congress."

Whedon contends that this is part of a broader pattern, as was seen last year when the president attempted to saddle taxpayers with student loan debts via executive order.

New York Times warned of "instability" caused by Biden's action

While the Supreme Court struck down the scheme, Biden has nevertheless pushed ahead with another controversial student loan plan.

Also of note is Biden's failed effort to pass major gun legislation, instead issuing an executive order that subjects federally licensed gun dealers to heightened scrutiny.

Whedon noted that Biden's use of executive action is so prolific that even the liberal New York Times once published an op-ed warning of "instability and uncertainty that can carry significant economic as well as human costs.

"With executive orders, there is always another presidential election just a few years off, threatening to upend everything," the paper stressed.