Posted on 06/14/2007 11:34:16 AM PDT by SkyPilot
WASHINGTON - A federal judge said Thursday he will not delay a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the CIA leak case, a ruling that could send the former White House aide to prison within weeks.
U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton's decision will send Libby's attorneys rushing to an appeals court to block the sentence and could force President Bush to consider calls from Libby's supporters to pardon the former aide.
No date was set for Libby to report to prison but it's expected to be within six to eight weeks. That will be left up to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which will also select a facility.
"Unless the Court of Appeals overturns my ruling, he will have to report," Walton said.
Libby's wife, Harriet Grant, wiped tears away from her eyes but Libby was stoic as Walton ruled.
Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted in March of lying to investigators and obstructing Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's inquiry into the 2003 leak of a CIA operative's identity.
Libby's supporters have called for President Bush to wipe away Libby's convictions. Bush publicly has sidestepped pardon questions, saying he wants to let the legal case play out. A delay would give Bush more time to consider the requests.
"Scooter Libby still has the right to appeal, and therefore the president will continue not to intervene in the judicial process," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "The president feels terribly for Scooter, his wife and their young children, and all that they're going through."
Libby thanked federal marshals but did not take questions from reporters as he left the courthouse with his wife and lawyers. Fitzgerald also left without commenting.
Walton never appeared to waver from his opinion that a delay was unwarranted. After 12 prominent law professors filed documents supporting Libby's request, the judge waved it off as "not something I would expect from a first-year in law school."
He also said he received several "angry, harassing, mean-spirited" letters and phone calls following his sentencing but said they wouldn't factor into his decision.
Libby is the highest ranking government official ordered to prison since the Iran Contra affair. His monthlong trial offered a rare glimpse into the White House in the early days of the Iraq war.
Trial testimony showed that Cheney was eager to beat back criticism of prewar intelligence. One of the administration's most outspoken critics in mid-2003 was former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
Amid a flury of news coverage of that criticism, Bush administration officials leaked to reporters that fact that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, worked as an undercover analyst for CIA. That disclosure in a syndicated newspaper column touched off a leak investigation that brought senior White House officials, including Bush and Cheney, in for questioning.
Libby argued he had a good chance of persuading an appeals court that, when Attorney General John Ashcroft and other senior Justice Department officials recused themselves from the leak investigation, they gave Fitzgerald unconstitutional and unchecked authority.
Walton was skeptical, saying the alternative was to put someone with White House ties in charge of an investigation into the highest levels of the Bush administration.
"If that's going to be how we have to operate, our system is going to be in serious trouble with the average Joe on the street who thinks the system is unfair already," Walton said.
Libby's newly formed appellate team — Lawrence S. Robbins and Mark Stancil — will seek an emergency order delaying the sentence. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is not sitting right now, however, and attorneys worried about how fast the request would be heard.
The appeals court has several conservative jurists, but that doesn't necessarily mean Libby will get a pass. Walton is a Republican judge whom Bush put on the bench in his first term.
Thanks Bush - you are just one helluva guy. Has he pardoned ANYONE during his Presidency? He doesn't have to be like Clinton and sell the damn things - just do the right thing.
Moreover, the AP article is biased as hell:
- Walton is no Republican Conservative just because Bush appointed him.
- Plame was not a "covert agent."
- Walton brushed asided the opinions of 12 legal scholars and mocked them (some Conservative).
Pretty disgusting, isn’t it?
I guess if Libby’s last name was..oh, I dunno...GONZALES perhaps he would get a pardon.....
"It's just a little prison sentence. hehe "
Walton never appeared to waver from his opinion that a delay was unwarranted. After 12 prominent law professors filed documents supporting Libby's request, the judge waved it off as "not something I would expect from a first-year in law school."
Judge Reggie Walton
Yeah - this guy looks like a real legal genius who is smarter than 12 law professors.
Maybe they shouldn't have used such big words - then maybe he could have actually read their letters.
Jorge Boosh is a standup compadre.
Did you read this part?
He also said he received several "angry, harassing, mean-spirited" letters and phone calls following his sentencing but said they wouldn't factor into his decision.
Awwwww. Poor widdle judge had is widdle feelings hurt!
I only have experience with civil appeals in the federal circuits, so maybe Buckhead knows the answer to this one. I’d like to think that Libby can take a writ of mandate to the DC Circuit that his appeals would take longer than his sentence.
That President Bush doesn’t say “enough is enough” and pardon him pending appeal makes me sick. TWELVE law professors write appeals that support Libby and this HACK of a judge can’t see his way clear.
But don’t worry America! Sandy Burglar still walks among you, safe and sound.
I read about a procedure where the President can postpone the penalty without actually granting a pardon. I don’t know why he hasn’t done this already. Maybe he doesn’t want the Congress to have a hearing on why he exercised his executive powers.
Fred said Libby should be pardoned right now.
Libby should just pretend to be from another country and Bush/McVain/Kennedy could pardon him for $5000!!
Libby being punished by the liberal establishment is in my top three list of things I will never forgive W for.
I didn’t think I could be anymore disgusted with Bush,but every day that goes by it just gets worst!!
I’m still trying to figure out exactly HOW Libby supposedly obstructed justice, since Fitzgerald knew Armitage leaked the name and told everyone to keep quiet about it. Fitzgerald’s conduct in this matter doesn’t pass the smell test.
Neither does that of the judge. Someone needs to through his other cases and see if he has granted bail pending appeal to others. I guess his Honor perhaps hasn’t heard of the blogosphere and how easily he’ll be exposed if there’s some hypocrisy goin’ on....
That President Bush doesn’t say “enough is enough” and pardon him pending appeal makes me sick.”
We’re entering a new era of American jurisprudence,donchano.
I know - incredible, isn't it?
I read an article the other day that said Bush staffers were quitting and/or laying low because they are up to their eyeballs in debt retaining lawyers they cannot afford. Not every Republican is rich.
The Democrats have succeeded in making it a "thought crime" to be a Conservative.
Let the Purges begin.
That biased liberal moron Wolf Blitzer shouted the "Answer yes or no!" question to the GOP candidates at a debate.
Rudy actually responded with eloquence and facts regarding the case - saying a man's life was a stake and of the hundreds of cases for pardons that went across his desk, this was one that he would have certainly approved.
Blitzer got all pi$$ed off and tried to cut Rudy off for stating the facts and the truth about the case. It was the first time I saw Rudy in a positive light.
The President can't postpone the sentence. What he can do is grant clemency and commute the sentence. Unlike a pardon, which Department of Justice guidelines say shouldn't be granted until 5 years after release from prison, clemency operates under different rules. Guidelines say that sentences should not be commuted while legal avenues of appeal still exist " except upon a showing of exceptional circumstances." One would think that would be the case in this matter.
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