Libby Pardon

People didn't waste any time raising the issue of pardoning Libby for his crimes. The New York Times presents a neutral piece on the issue here, whereas The Wall Street Journal, The Week Standard and the National Review swiftly undermined the purpose of a judicial system by demanding an immediate pardon.

We are either a country ruled by law or we are not; there is no place in a just society for exceptions based on power and connections. Those on the right will try and argue that his crime was not heinous, "he only lied in front of a grand jury." Mobsters have been sentenced to jail over lying to a grand jury; do we discuss pardoning them? The perpetrators of Iran-Contra were pardoned because they acted out of "Patriotism". Those on the right make the same argument for Libby: lying to a grand jury is not patriotic, neither are covert operations or exposing CIA operatives.

I have little doubt that Libby will be pardoned by Bush in the final minutes of his Presidency; his father did the same for the Iran-Contra criminals. That other Presidents have defiled our justice system (Bill Clinton did so, I might add, with Marc Rich) does not mean the current one should do so as well.

I believe in forgiveness, but we need consistency. For a President who executed hundreds without sympathy while in Texas, and has pardoned few during his Presidency, pardoning Libby would show that Justice is not blind, but rather a socialite, tipping the scales as she sees fit.

Posted by Peter