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President
Bush Cancels Libby's Jail Term |
Posted:
07.09.07
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President Bush used the power of the presidency this summer to
commute the prison sentence of Vice President Dick Cheney's former
chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was set
to spend 30 months in jail for perjury and obstruction of justice.
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"I respect the jury's verdict. But I have concluded that
the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.  Therefore,
I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required
him to spend 30 months in prison," said the president in
a written statement.
In early June, Libby was sentenced to the prison term, two years
of supervised release -- a type of probation -- and a $250,000
fine. The probation and fine are still in place.
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The case |
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Libby's conviction stems from a two-year investigation prompted
by a 2003 newspaper column disclosing the identity of CIA operative
Valerie Plame.
To knowingly unmask a CIA agent is a violation of the 1982 law,
the Intelligence Protection Act.
 Plame's
husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had challenged the Bush
administration's claims that Iraq was trying to obtain weapons
of mass destruction, which was used to justify the war. He believed
that the administration leaked his wife's name to punish him.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald investigated the leak and
asked Libby about his conversations with newspaper reporters.
Libby was found guilty of lying to the FBI and the grand jury
about conversations he had had with various journalists about
Valerie Plame. He also was found guilty of obstructing justice
in the case, meaning that his actions prevented the investigators
from knowing what really happened.
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Commutation
vs. pardon |
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President Bush used the power outlined in the U.S. Constitution,
in Article II, Section 2, which gives the president the "power
to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United
States, except in cases of impeachment."
 The
commutation lessens Libby's punishment but does not forgive or
excuse him of his crime like a full pardon would. He must still
pay the fine and serve probation, though there is some question
as to whether someone who has not served any prison time can serve
probation.
President Bush has not ruled out the use of a pardon in Libby's
case.
"As to the future, I rule nothing in or nothing out,"
the president said when asked about a possible pardon for Libby.
Some legal experts think a pardon would be unusual in this case.
"I think it would be hard for him to pardon him in a year-and-a-half,
which is all he has left, particularly given his comments about
the jury verdict today," Margaret Love, who served as the
president's pardon attorney in the Department of Justice from
1990 to 1997, told the NewsHour July 3.
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Reaction |
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Reaction to the commutation fell along political party lines,
with most Democrats deriding the act and most Republicans supporting
it.
 Democratic
Representative John Conyers of Michigan said in a statement, "Until
now, it appeared that the president merely turned a blind eye
to a high-ranking administration official leaking classified information.
The president's action today makes it clear that he condones such
activity."
Republican Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri said, "President
Bush did the right thing today in commuting the prison term for
Scooter Libby. The prison sentence was overly harsh, and the punishment
did not fit the crime."
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Past pardons |
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President Bush has issued 113 pardons and three commutations.
By comparison, President Clinton issued 396 pardons.
Some pardons have been considered controversial, such as:
-
 President
Clinton's of Marc Rich, who had been convicted of tax evasion
and whose ex-wife was a Clinton campaign contributor;
- The first President Bush, who in 1992 pardoned former Defense
Secretary Caspar Weinberger for his role in the Iran-Contra
scandal, where the members of the executive branch secretly
bought weapons from Iran, which was against U.S. law, to fund
the Contra rebels fighting the communist government in Nicaragua;
and
- President Ford's pardon of his predecessor, President Nixon
in 1974, which reportedly contributed to his unsuccessful re-election
bid in 1976.
--Compiled
by Annie Schleicher for NewsHour Extra
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Joplin was able to rise from the ashes because of help from everyone. And I am eternally grateful to anyone who made that possible.
