Letters to the Editor
sysprog
Published Letters: 1591 Editor's Choice: 2
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Ed Morrissey
[Read the article: Joe Klein's stirring defense of Lewis Libby]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ed Morrissey is a conservative Bush follower in Minnesota.
At his blog, "Captain's Quarters", Morrissey tried to apply his conservative principles to the Libby sentencing and he concluded that the sentencing, although he didn't like the result, was appropriate:
http://captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/010173.php
June 7, 2007
Was The Libby Sentence 'Extreme'?
. . . Obstruction of justice is a level 14 crime for sentencing purposes, and even with no criminal record, a single count at that level brings a 15-21 month sentence, as the DoJ chart shows. It also carries a 3-level upgrade if "the offense resulted in substantial interference with the administration of justice." That puts Libby's level at 17, with a 24-30 month sentence. If the defendant/convict abused a position of "special trust" -- and as a high-ranking government official, Libby qualifies -- the level on sentencing has to be increased two levels to 19. That puts the potential sentence at 30-37 months -- and that's not accounting for multiple convictions for perjury.
Federal judges do not have a lot of leeway on sentencing. That's because conservatives insisted on these sentencing guidelines more than twenty years ago, frustrated with a judiciary that gave too many slaps on the wrist. They work well, too, but they tie the hands of federal judges. Judge Reggie Walton expressed sorrow and frustration at the sentencing, but his hands were mostly tied. As I wrote earlier this week, the convictions made the sentencing an anticlimax, and Walton appears to have actually taken it easy on Libby. Walton's only other option would have been to vacate the convictions, but he had no real legal basis on which to do that.
- - Ed Morrissey
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Reggie Walton is everything that Republicans claim to believe in.
[Read the article: Joe Klein's stirring defense of Lewis Libby]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-walton7jun07,0,6468944.story
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Libby's judge known as 'tough guy'; that's why Bush appointed him
Libby's judge was one of the president's first judicial appointments.
By Richard B. Schmitt, Times Staff WriterJune 7, 2007
WASHINGTON — Years ago, when he was a local trial judge, Reggie B. Walton developed a reputation for his sentencing of ordinary street thugs.
"If you got convicted, he was going to smack you," said Randall Eliason, a former prosecutor who recalled that Walton would often sentence defendants more harshly than other judges would.
That Walton would put the Bush administration in an uncomfortable position of having to consider a politically charged pardon for Libby is highly ironic: The 58-year-old jurist was one of the first appointments that Bush made to the federal bench in October 2001, a prime example of a new law-and-order mentality that the administration wanted to infuse in the courts.
"Bush wanted people to know that 'I appoint tough guys to the bench,' " said Roscoe Howard, the U.S. attorney in Washington during Bush's first term. "They appointed him just for what he did to Scooter; they were just not expecting it to happen to Scooter."
By all accounts, Walton is a tough guy. A judge for more than 25 years, he did two separate stints on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, appointed by both Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He served as an associate director of the White House drug control office and as chairman of a national commission to curb prison rape.
The Washington Post reported an incident two years ago in which Walton, driving his family in downtown Washington to the airport for a vacation, noticed a cabdriver being attacked. The 5-foot-9 judge, who played football at West Virginia State University, stopped his vehicle, wrestled the attacker to the ground and held him in check until police arrived.
"He started toward me," Walton told the Washington Post. "I had to take him down."
Despite Walton's history as a "long ball hitter" when it comes to sending criminals to jail, lawyers and legal experts said the punishment he imposed on Libby was within his discretion under the law.
The 2 1/2 year sentence was within the range of guidelines that the Bush administration has created and espoused for federal judges to follow to ensure that defendants are punished the same regardless of the judge hearing their case. The administration and Republican members of Congress have admonished other judges who give defendants a break under the guidelines . . .
- - Los Angeles Times
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One of the conservatives at "The Corner" at National Review:
[Read the article: Joe Klein's stirring defense of Lewis Libby]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDMxYzNjNzZiMDhiOWUwYzdhYjM0ODgyMmFlZTU1MGI=
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Re: Libby, Ctd. [Andy McCarthy]
. . . This place ["The Corner" at National Review] has been about as solidly pro-Scooter as anyplace . . . Not that Scooter Libby has asked for my advice, but I also must say that that the ardor of his supporters — including, I believe, NR — has hurt him, and hurt the conservative movement, in very fundamental ways.
As to him personally, all this passionate rhetoric about his heroic service to the United States, how the investigation should never have happened, and how he got unfairly singled out and screwed (all of which I agree with) would be fine if it weren't obscuring something fairly important: Lying to the FBI and a grand jury is a very bad thing, even if we all think it was an unworthy investigation.
. . . I dread the next time — and you know there will be a next time — when a high-ranking liberal Democrat lies to investigators and obstructs justice. When the outraged grumbling starts around here, like it (rightly) did with Clinton's lying and obstruction, the media is going to have an awful lot of material to quote from, and they are going to say, with considerable force, that it's not lying that matters to us but who is doing the lying. The invective is doing us no favors, just as it is doing Libby no favors.
- - Andy McCarthyAndy McCarthy (the lawyer, not the actor) is a neocon Republican whose blogging is nicely subsidized by THIS place:
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/about_FDD/about_FDD_show.htm?doc_id=240055&attrib_id=7397
Will the so-called liberal media, some day, actually hold the Libby incident against the conservative establishment, as Andy McCarthy predicts?
Get real.
As with most neocon predictions, this one seems far-fetched.