Justice for Thee and Not Me

What a crock. Too bad Martha Stewart contributed to Democrats and not Bush-ites, right?

Bush Spares Libby From Prison Term - WSJ.com:
President Bush commuted the sentence of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby on Monday, sparing him from a 2½-year prison term that Mr. Bush said was excessive.


Mr. Bush's move came hours after a federal appeals panel ruled Mr. Libby couldn't delay his prison term in the CIA leak case. That meant Mr. Libby was likely to have to report to prison soon and put new pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Mr. Libby's allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

“I respect the jury's verdict,” Mr. Bush said in a statement. “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 thirty months in prison.” (See Mr. Bush's statement.)

Mr. Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for Mr. Libby, and Mr. Bush said his action still “leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby.”

Mr. Libby was convicted in March of lying to authorities and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative's identity. He was the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra affair.

Reaction was harsh from Democrats.

“As Independence Day nears, we're reminded that one of the principles our forefathers fought for was equal justice under the law. This commutation completely tramples on that principle,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) said through a spokesman.

Can't we drum up a lynch mob with tar and feathers?

Gotta love this:

Commutation was suggested by a former attorney in the first President Bush's administration, William Otis, in a recent Washington Post article.

The essay sparked a debate on the Internet among law professors. Eric Muller, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, called Mr. Otis's argument “garbage.” Interviewed last night about the news, Mr. Muller said, “It is very difficult to reconcile the commutation of a sentence that was chosen from within the sentencing guidelines range for this sort of offense for this kind of offender.”

Pardon lawyer Margaret Colgate Love said she hopes the commutation will make Mr. Bush more generous in other clemency cases, where he has displayed notable stinginess so far. Mr. Libby's commutation skirted regular procedures, coming before appeals had run their course, and the Justice Department's pardon attorney wasn't consulted by the White House.

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