I had a funny conversation about Libby’s commutation the other with a friend who has argued several cases before SCOTUS–he pointed out that since he defends real thugs whose prosecutions included irregularities, his clients don’t get considered for commutation. Like him, Jeralyn spends a lot of time dealing with clients who get none of the benefits accorded to Libby on Monday. Which means she has been writing some great, meaty posts on the topics. She has a great one today on the differences between the Marc Rich pardon and the Libby commutation.
I think it’s significant that President Clinton waived executiveprivilege for the hearing and allowed his aides who participated in theRich pardon discussion to testify, no holds barred.
Will Bush do the same next week?
She has a much linked post on the meaning of supervised release for Libby. And the one I meant to link but got caught up into events is this post, from her perspective as a defense lawyer, talking about how unjust Libby’s treatment is compared to the treatment of all the other defendants out there.