Daily Herald opinion: Hunter Biden, Trump convictions unavoidably linked to each other in politics of justice

So now, the son of a sitting United States president and an ex-president are felons together. Their cases are unrelated, technically, but still connected as object lessons in the operation of the U.S. justice system.

The truth is, whether former President Donald Trump had been found innocent and President Joe Biden’s son Hunter guilty, or Hunter innocent and Trump guilty, or both innocent, the system would still deserve our faith. It worked as it is designed to work — flawed and susceptible to manipulations though it may be.

And, in neither case, did privilege enable a defendant to escape accountability.

We suspect that Hunter Biden’s conviction on three felonies on Tuesday won’t convince the most die-hard Trump supporters that Trump’s recent trial wasn’t “rigged,” and a “sham” as he has said — and that the trial wasn’t led by a “conflicted” and “corrupt” judge. But Biden’s trial and swift conviction on the three federal charges — all tied to his 2018 purchase of a gun — clearly has taken some wind out of the sails of the far-right narrative that Democrats have “weaponized” the American justice system for their own benefit.

After all, the argument goes, if the Democrats controlled the system, then isn’t it likely that neither Hunter Biden nor New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez would be facing charges … let alone be found guilty?

But here we are, a nation beset by the belief — on both sides — that politics rules our courts, a belief that gets more cemented when your side loses a case. These last few weeks, it has been discouraging to see how supporters of Donald Trump and Hunter Biden, or anyone overly political, are unable to divorce their politics from how the trial court system works in this country.

Given the deeply honed mistrust of the American justice system these days, including the claim that the Biden Administration and Justice Department are making a political persecution of Trump, it feels a little bit like a miracle when 12 ordinary men and women emerge from deliberation with a unanimous verdict. Former president Trump: Guilty on all 34 counts of falsified business records. The president’s son, Hunter Biden: Guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on a federal firearm application and possession of an illegally obtained gun.

They were fair trials, and both men were convicted by juries of their peers. The attorneys for both men had opportunities to influence the makeup of their juries. Both men can appeal. Biden even may be able to point to the Supreme Court’s recent series of gun-friendly rulings.

People close to Trump and Hunter Biden are no doubt disappointed by how the juries saw the evidence in their cases. But the rest of us should recognize that the trial system still works. Never perfect, but it has stood the test of time since 1789, when the Judiciary Act set up the first federal courts.

It is exceptional news for the country that citizens as jurors drive the justice process for ordinary Americans and celebrities alike, and that they don’t shrink from their duty, despite the threat of exposure and harassment.