The pending federal conviction of Hunter Biden will be just that — a conviction, giving the president's son a permanent criminal record. That's not nothing.

And considering the relatively modest crimes to which he will plead guilty — failure to pay taxes that have since been paid, and not admitting his drug addiction on a form he filled out while buying a gun five years ago — a plea bargain that avoids prison time is appropriate.

It's worth noting that the deal was reached by a Donald Trump-appointed special prosecutor. "Many people are not prosecuted at all" on similar tax charges, notes Harvard Law School professor and former Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz.

That won't satisfy Republicans whose cries of a "sweetheart deal" were as predictable as they are unsupported. But persuadable Americans of all political stripes who look at the facts should conclude that this case shows a Justice Department doing its job without fear or favor.

That the president's son is a shady character is beyond debate. In addition to the younger Biden's past drug addiction, he has clearly traded on his father's name as he has fumbled through life.

Yes, his $50,000-a-month gig with a Ukrainian gas company was suspicious. Yes, that wayward laptop reportedly contained some salacious (or least embarrassing) stuff.

But contrary to the near-religious certainty among partisans that President Biden is corruptly connected to these and other issues, there has been no evidence of it. The president's main offense, it seems, has been indulgence of a son who long ago needed "tough love."

Special prosecutor David Weiss had five years to connect any dots that were connectable. He chose to strike a plea bargain on charges that were modest, but probably more than anyone not named Biden would have faced. The White House didn't interfere, and no one is throwing around the word "pardon."

This isn't a "sweetheart deal." It's sober American justice in action.

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