Justice and Ethics - The Scooter Libby Commutation

Just days after Richard Scrushy was sentenced to Federal prison, President Bush commuted the prison term of former White House aide - Scooter Libby. My the media has had a frenzy with all the attention - both legal and political - that these men have had. Quoted below is a blog from Peter Lattman - Wall Street Journal law blog.

We hope everyone enjoyed the Fourth. It was a fairly uneventful day for the Law Blog, as we watched as our two local baseball teams flail into the All-Star break, read a WSJ colleague’s new book on rich people, and took in the continued reverberations of President Bush’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison term. Here’s what’s going on in Scooterville (in addition to Michael Kinsley’s provocative NYT op-ed):

Introducing . . . the “Libby Motion”?: Many commentators — click here and here — are saying that President Bush’s ignoring the federal sentencing guidelines will serve as fodder for criminal defense lawyers. “I anticipate that we’re going to get a new motion called ‘the Libby motion,’ ” said Professor Ellen Podgor to the New York Times. “It will basically say, ‘My client should have got what Libby got, and here’s why.’”

The First “Libby Motion”?: The New York Sun reports this morning that an alleged Hamas operative is likely to be among the first criminal defendants to try to capitalize on President Bush’s commutation. Mohammed Salah, 57, is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge in Chicago next week on one count of obstruction of justice. Prosecutors are seeking 22 years under the federal sentencing guidelines. Said Salah’s lawyer Michael Deutsch, who’s seeking a sentence of probation: “What the president said about Mr. Libby applies in spades to the case of Mohammed Salah.We’ll definitely be bringing it up to the judge. It’s going to be a real test, a first early test of whether we’re a nation of laws or a nation of men.”

How Do Federal Prosecutors Feel?: Looking at it from the perspective of federal prosecutors, OSU Law professor Alan Michaels emailed his colleague at the Sentencing Law and Policy Blog: “I do think [the President’s statement] will be thrown in the face of every line assistant arguing for a Guidelines sentence in every district court in the country, and I would expect it to carry weight with some judges. I suspect the President’s action is very demoralizing to AUSA’s around the country for this reason. These are folks who’ve backed the President’s tough sentencing policy in the face of compelling and heart-rending arguments. Now the President makes the same argument they’ve been standing up to!”

How Does Judge Reggie Walton Feel?: We don’t know because he’s not talking to the media. But there might be some indication. In his statement, President Bush said Libby would still serve “two years of probation”; but technically, he was sentenced to two years of “supervised release.” So Judge Walton issued a two-page order on Tuesday asking both sides to submit briefs on the question of how one can have a “term of supervised release after imprisonment” now that the President Bush has erased his prison term. (Hat Tip: Berman)

Certainly there are numerous questions that follow such a bold move on the part of the President. Of course, many people expected Scooter Libby to be pardoned - but the commutation of just the prison portion of the sentence raises numerous questions. Those questions will be dealt with by those smarter and brighter than I. My concern frankly is - what good will come from this action.

As I have said over and over, every choice has a consequence. Most of us are forced to experience the consequences. So the real question in my mind is whether Scooter skating on some of the consequences will allow lessons to be learned? Through personal experience, if we don't learn the lesson from the consequences we face, we will likely have to repeat the learning until we get it. I cannot speak for Scooter Libby, but looking back I feel that if I had been given a pass, I might have missed the true value in the lessons I learned.

Perhaps, as time passes, we will find that good can come from these most recent events. Of then in the face of adversity, we can find positive opportunities for growth. Through the Choices Foundation (www.chuckgallagher.com), which I established, I find that speaking to others about life's choices and consequences is my way to "pay it forward" and help others learn is a less painful way. Let's hope that Scooter Libby will find redeeming value from his experience as well.