Posted on 07/02/2007 2:56:38 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby from a 2 1/2-year prison term on Monday, issuing an order that commutes his sentence.
This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby cannot delay his 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case, a federal appeals panel unanimously ruled Monday.
The decision is a major setback for Libby, who is running out of legal options and who probably will have to surrender to prison in weeks. The ruling puts pressure on President Bush, who has been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Libby was convicted in March of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. He is the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra affair.
Libby believed he had a good chance of overturning the conviction on appeal and asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to put the sentence on hold. In a two-sentence ruling, the court refused.
The White House had no immediate reaction to the decision.
Libby's supporters, who raised millions of dollars for his defense fund, immediately renewed calls for a pardon.
"I hope it puts pressure on the president. He's a man of pronounced loyalties and he should have loyalty to Scooter Libby," said former Ambassador Richard Carlson, a member of Libby's defense fund. "It would be a travesty for him to go off to prison. The president will take some heat for it. So what? He takes heat for everything."
Attorney William Jeffress said only that Libby's defense team was weighing its options.
Those options are dwindling, however. The most likely move is an appeal to Chief Justice John Roberts, but it's unlikely that Roberts would overturn a unanimous ruling to spare Libby prison. Barring such an intervention, it seems only Bush could spare Libby prison time.
Roberts is a Bush appointee but judicial politics haven't helped Libby so far. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, who sentenced Libby and refused to delay the prison term, was a Bush appointee. Two of the three appellate judges who denied Libby's request Monday were appointed by Republicans.
Last week, the U.S. bureau of Prisons designated Libby as federal inmate No. 28301-016. He soon will receive a time and place to surrender. The agency tries to place inmates close to home, which means candidates include prisons in Cumberland, Md.; Petersburg, Va.; Fairton, N.J.; Fort Dix, N.J. and Schuylkill, Pa.
As a first-time offender, Libby likely would be assigned to a minimum-security prison camp, where inmates sleep in bunks arranged in small cubicles with shared toilets. Whether drug dealers, insider traders, tax cheats or disgraced politicians, all prisoners are ordered to strip and submit to cavity searches on their way through the doors.
Bush and Cheney have said throughout the case that they felt sorry for Libby's wife and children. But Bush has publicly dodged questions about whether he plans to pardon Libby or commute his sentence.
The leak investigation was a political cloud over the Bush administration for years. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald interviewed Bush and Cheney and ordered key White House aides to testify before a grand jury.
Nobody was charged with leaking Plame's identity but Libby was convicted of lying about his conversations with reporters regarding the outed operative. Fitzgerald says his investigation is complete.
The appellate judges who turned down Libby's request were: David Tatel, nominated by President Clinton; David Sentelle, selected by President Ronald Reagan; and Karen LeCraft Henderson, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, father of the current president.
commutation of sentence: In criminal law, reduction of a sentence for a criminal act by action of the executive head of the government. Like pardon pardon, in law, exemption from punishment for a criminal conviction granted by the grace of the executive of a government. Commutation of sentence is a matter of grace, not of right; it is distinguished from pardon, however, in that the conviction of crime is not nullified. The commutation, hence, may be granted on condition that the criminal observe certain restrictions for the balance of his original sentence. Many states have statutes providing for commutation of sentence as a reward for good conduct during imprisonment. Once earned, the commutation becomes a matter of right and may be enforced by court action.Perhaps this will allow the appeal to go on without jail time. At the end of the appeal process, the President could still pardon him and remove the conviction.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former Chief of Staff to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, arrives for his sentencing hearing at U.S. District Court in Washington in this June 5, 2007 file photo. Libby, a former vice presidential aide, on July 2, 2007 lost his bid to delay serving his 2 1/2-year prison sentence while he appeals his conviction in the CIA leak case. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/Files (UNITED STATES)
Jesus, adter the immigration garbage, I had no illusions about Libby getting anything from W except the shaft.
Credit where credit is due. Way to go, Mr. President!
I expected this from President Bush!!!!
This is NOT a pardon, but is still very good news. I am happy with President Bush’s decision (it’s been a long time).
Good on Bush. I couldn’t believe that he would actually allow Libby to serve time.
Let all us conservatives really piss off the liberals and give Rush Limbaugh the credit for the pressure on the President.
Heads are exploding over at DU right now
i hoped the Prez would do something like this. i just went to scooterlibby.com and made a contribution to help this guy pay his fine/bills.
Just read through the DU posts... They have gone completly coconuts. They breath fire right now.
Good!
Now, if he could just do the same for the two border patrol agents unjustly imprisoned for doing their jobs, but I’m not holding out much hope for that.
Good. A little more Bush Derangement Syndrome might finish some of them off. If nothing else, their posts will be even more entertaining than usual.
Yep! They’re screaming impeachment. Of course, the fact that the president has the legal right to commute sentences seems to have escaped their tiny little pea brains.
Would you be willing to post a link to the thread you describe? I need a laugh.
me to. now lets have him get those border agents out also.
congrats jorge bush.....you are now correct about as often as a stopped clock....
but good job commuting scooter.....now PARDON...the border guards!!!!
The border agents don’t deserve a pardon.
damn it’s a riot to read their nutzoid posts huh?
Not quite “Way to Go”. He could have pardoned Libby, and surely would have, had LIbby’s name been Estrada or some such.
They don’t deserve their sentence either.
I think the following is Update to original article posted,, new title, also author is named.
Bush commutes Libby prison sentence
BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070702/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak_trial;_ylt=Akz65GIydOphhMkoaRs2_e8D5gcF
WASHINGTON - President Bush commuted the sentence of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby on Monday, sparing him from a 2 1/2-year prison term that Bush said was excessive.
Bush’s move came hours after a federal appeals panel ruled Libby could not delay his prison term in the CIA leak case. That meant Libby was likely to have to report to prison soon and put new pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Libby’s allies to pardon the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
“I respect the jury’s verdict,” 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.”
Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for Libby, and Bush said his action still “leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby.”
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.
Libby’s supporters celebrated.
“That’s fantastic. It’s a great relief,” said former Ambassador Richard Carlson, who helped raise millions for Libby’s defense fund. “Scooter Libby did not deserve to go to prison and I’m glad the president had the courage to do this.”
A message seeking comment from Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s office was not immediately returned.
Bush said Cheney’s former aide was not getting off free.
“The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged,” Bush said. “His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant and private citizen will be long-lasting.”
I’m with you on that! Let’s do that - give Rush teh credit, and he really deserves it anyway.
Let's go one further: Impose a tax of .02% that goes to a fund given to Scooter.
We can call it the "What a Swell Guy" fund.
Only Democrats would be forced to pay it.
Say what?
This will buy back the good graces of the Party faithful after that immigration disaster.
You're just saying that because they are hispanic.
Thanks. I managed to find it this time. I thought it would be entertaining to read their posts. I was wrong. Such abysmal ignorance/stupidity [you choose] isn’t funny. It’s depressing.
A pardon could come later.
This will buy back the good graces of the Party faithful after that immigration disaster.
—
I don’t know. Consider it a down-payment for many, at best. ;-)
I think you're right.
Good point. The appeals process will proceed and there is still a possibility of it being reversed, slim though it be.
Rush really does run the country—
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_070207/content/01125113.guest.html
1) He could have done nothing and let Scooter rot in jail while he fought the conviction and kept airing out the facts
Scooter would get a great play by Conservative radio and other Internet media.
2) He could have pardoned Libby and the whole thing would become a moot point, as all legal proceedings would be over and it would be good only for DNC and WAPO fodder to spread for years.
3)He could commute Scooter and let him continue to fight the good fight, airing all of the facts in ongoing court proceedings as Scooter fights to clear his name and bringing this up continually in the Court System and, more important, the court of public opinion, which will still get great airtime as Scooter does the radio circuit and PR after each court appearance.
And thats what he did. - I believe that Scooter stands a very good chance to be vindicated, and that during the run-up to 08. -D@mn near perfect.
Hahahahahahahahaha . . . .
Oh wait, you’re serious?
Not even close.
This is a politically interesting move. I would hope the administration can funnel money to cover his fine and attorney fees so it would make his sentence essentially probation and the loss of his job.
But rather than the full pardon Libby probably deserves, Bush has found a way to remove the harshest part of the punishment while NOT making it appear as if the conviction was meritless (in an attempt to blunt criticism from the media and the Left).
I’m not sure what Bush is afraid of. There are no 2008 candidates running on Bush’s coattails so it would be hard to pin them to a full pardon if Bush did it. If I were Libby, I probably would still be upset that his reputation has the taint of a conviction but that part is still under appeal.
So now the appeal goes on in the light of day without Libby being buried in prison
I see some people saying that Bush will probably pardon Libby later on, but from what I read, Bush says that he only commuted the sentence because he figured that part was excessive and left the other in place as proper. So, that does not sound like a President who will pardon Libby later on...
Regards,
Star Traveler
Well, you had no problem trampling on that principle when you exonerated Clinton for perjury, you swine.
The cynic in me just sees this as Bush’s attempt to get back in the good graces of the conservative base, after the immigration debacle of the past few weeks.
Maybe he would have commuted Libby’s sentence anyway, but for this to come after the past week, the timing seems too coincidental.
Nope. I see that the Bush compound in Maine has a FENCE along it’s connection to the land. I’d like to hear T. Snow explain why.
I’d be even more impressed if he also commuted the prison sentences of the two border agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who are now in prison serving 11- and 12-year sentences...
now if he could only do the same for the border patrolmen
Then, if it doesn't, if the appeals are exhausted, or apt to drag on past his presidency, I believe Bush will pardon him. As well he should pardon an innocent man who is simply the victim of a political witch hunt.
250K is a fraction of the Libby’s lawyer fees.
Nonetheless, Libby is a highly capable man, and the monies involved will not be crippling.
I’m glad that Libby can now get on with his life - and let his lawyers appeal the conviction to clear his name - free of the yoke of the threat of federal prison.
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