No Slammer for Scooter

Following the news that President Bush has commuted the 2 1/2-year prison sentence of I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Brad DeLong is highlighting a column written two weeks ago by Jeff Lomonaco, which predicted this outcome. Bush's action leaves Libby's perjury conviction intact along with a $250,000 fine. Instead of commuting the prison time, Bush could have issued a complete pardon, but Lomanoco points out that to do so would have eliminated the rationale that Bush and Cheney have "used successfully for four years to avoid addressing their own roles in the case." Bush and Cheney have justified their silence "with claims that they shouldn't comment on an ongoing legal proceeding. If Bush were to pardon Libby, he and Cheney would no longer have such a rationale for evading the press' questions — nor would Libby be able to claim the right against self-incrimination to resist testifying before Congress about the role that Cheney and Bush played in directing his conduct. But if Bush simply commutes Libby's prison sentence without effectively vacating Libby's conviction, the appeals process goes forward and Bush and Cheney continue to have their rationale for not answering the press' questions."