President Bush commuted I. Lewis Libby Jr.'s prison sentence yesterday.
With some calling it a correction of a miscarriage of justice, the only miscarriage of justice I see here is the arrogant belief of the administration that it is above the law.
Mr. Bush is quoted in the Times as saying “I respect the jury’s verdict...But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.” Forget that an experienced federal judge considered all of the evidence and imposed a sentence that was consistent with the law, Mr. Bush knows better, and simply ignores our judicial process to benefit his friends.
But this does provide a great defense strategy for the next big case that comes along. Sidetrack the investigation by having a crony lie under oath, the prosecutor is unable to prove his case, the crony gets convicted of perjury and the president commutes the sentence. Perfect.
Next we can ignore statutes and rules, and when the agency charged with enforcing those rules seeks enforcement, we can attempt to have the agency disbanded.
Oh wait, they tried that already.
