Scooter Libby’s Liberation
Posted on July 2, 2007
Lets be clear, as the left goes bonkers, that this is not a pardon. It is a commutation.
A commutation is distinct from a pardon, which is a complete eradication of a conviction record — making it the same as if the person has never been convicted.
Bush has only commuted the jail term which means that the conviction remains on Libby’s record and he must still pay a $250,000 fine.
Commutations are rarely granted, says CNN’s chief legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin. A commutation is a total right of the president and it cannot be challenged by any attorney or court, he said.
I’m sure Libby is greatful, but the Rottweiller sums up my feelings on the “half-ass” actions of the president.
Suggestion: Bush should have reduced the fine to a more reasonable $50,000, which just so happens to be how much Sandy Berger was fined for stealing and destroying classified documents and lying about it to investigators (he wasn’t charged for the latter, but subsequent revelations has made it clear he did just that).
Making the fine $50,000 would have been more in line with Libby’s transgressions, and it would have made it harder for Democrats to argue against it. The penalty — no jail time, $50,000, probation — would have been so similar to Berger’s that one could scarcely mention it without also mentioning Berger.
Bush’s statement
Obama’s statement
Pelosi’s statement
Fred Thompson’s statement
Roundup
» Filed Under News, Politics As Usual
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8 Responses to “Scooter Libby’s Liberation”
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Scooter Libby’s appeal continues. If he wins and I think he will, then thsi miscarriuage of justice will become completely undone.
Scooter Libby has been commuted of his sentence by President Bush. That means he is still guilty of the crimes and has to pay the fee but no longer must suffer the 30 month long jail sentence. Bush remarked the sentence as “unfair”. This is one of the first times the commute has been used not to protect the honorable, but the corrupt. Let’s try to get a good guy in office next time.
A Justice System without Justice
Umm, you’re really arguing about the fine?
You don’t get to that kind of position without having some serious connections. Even with a conviction hanging around his neck, he’s not going to be faxing resumes to anyone. I’m willing to bet they let the fine ride because it sounds a lot tougher than it actually is.
I spent some time on the phone with Jay and got him to look at this from a different angle.
It is easy to say if the President was going to do something, why didn’t he just pardon Libby? But that doesn’t clear his name.
Libby is in the middle of an appeals process where he could possibly win. If granted a pardon, that process would end. By issuing clemency, the President kept Libby out of prison. The conviction is still there. It hasn’t been erased. Therefore he can still go forward with the appeal.
Let’s make sure we have something in context. Libby has been convicted for lying to investigators investigating a crime which the investigators knew never took place. Fitzgerald knew that no crime was committed before interviewing Libby but he needed something to justify his investigation. The jury convicted him of a crime which wasn’t really a crime. Not recalling a telephone conversation after a couple of years in the same manner as the other person in the conversation isn’t a crime. Because if it is, we all need to start taping our conversations so that if we are ever called to court about them, we can refresh our memories as to the facts of the conversation before we go.
Today’s decision by the President is the right one. The judges’ decisions to not allow Libby to stay out of prison pending exhaustion of his appeals was vindictive and petty. And it was those decisions which prompted the clemency.
“This is one of the first times the commute has been used not to protect the honorable, but the corrupt. Let’s try to get a good guy in office next time.”
I’d really hate to see you logic through some of the past commutations (of both sides) and keep a straight face while re-reading that.
Scooter Libby is the new Paris Hilton. That’s hot.
You people are sooooo “law-and-order-punish-the-guilty”–until it’s
one of YOUR guys.