Bush commutes Libby’s prison sentence

In the latest example of how the members of the executive branch of the United States consider themselves to be above the law, President Bush has commuted Scooter Libby’s 30 month prison sentence. While it isn’t quite a full pardon (yet, he’ll most likely be pardoned before Bush leaves office), it’s still a slap in the face to the justice system.

Members of the government or not, all people are supposed to be equal under our rule of law. No one should be exempt from it. This recent commutation shows that the Bush administration cares about as much about this principle as it does about habeas corpus, which isn’t very much. If Libby was assured from the beginning he would never go to jail, he could have focused on protecting the vice President (as special prosecutor Fitzgerald put it, throwing sand in the eyes of the investigation) rather than trying to protect himself, which is precisely what he did. This corrupts the entire legal system by essentially saying the President can and is willing to overrule court decisions to protect cronies and loyal party members.

It has been years since Bush has had an approval rating of over 50 percent (that’s putting it nicely), and this isn’t going to help. Worse, some of the Republican presidential candidates have publicly agreed with the decision already. Things seem to be quickly blowing up in Bush’s face, but who will he take with him? Bush might have just ruined his party’s chances of winning the executive branch in ’08.