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Appeals Court Denies Bond for Scooter Libby

By Jeralyn, Section Lewis Libby Trial Coverage
Posted on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 12:29:24 PM EST
Tags: Libby Trial (all tags)
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The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Scooter Libby's request for an appeal bond.

President Bush has repeatedly said he will not pardon Scooter Libby while his case is in the Appeals court.

Does Libby have any options besides reporting to prison on schedule? If he was certain a pardon would be granted, he could drop his appeal of his conviction. Then Bush could say the matter has concluded in the courts and the time is right for him to grant a pardon.

Bush could commute his sentence to probation, reserving the pardon issue until the Appeals Court has ruled on the conviction.

Other than those, I can't think of any. It sounds like Libby will be proceeding to prison as scheduled.

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    Appeals Court Denies Bond for Scooter Libby | 35 comments (35 topical)

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    As John Dean has pointed out ... (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by chemoelectric on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 03:12:54 PM EST
    ... a pardon could lead to investigations and thus to prosecutions for obstruction of justice by way of pardon. So Bush isn't likely to issue any pardons before the time has matured. Plus Libby is loyal to Cheney, if anybody, and not to Bush, so Bush's calculations will not include reward for personal loyalty.

    Done. Sentence commuted. nt (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by lilybart on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:10:06 PM EST


    link (none / 0) (#9)
    by roy on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:13:07 PM EST
    here

    President Bush commuted the sentence of former aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Monday, sparing him from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case.

    Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for Libby, according to a senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.



    Parent
    I said it back in March. (none / 0) (#11)
    by Edger on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:19:17 PM EST
    George W. Bush just pre-emptively pardoned himself.

    He had a choice to make.

     Omertà: Taking Care Of Business? Or Burning The Bush?

    Scooter Libby is one of those guys the old joke "We have to kill him - he knows too much" was the perfect description of. But Libby is too well known. Taking him out would be too obvious. So he has to be taken care of or his former bosses might have a vacation they'd rather not have.


    Parent
    edger (1.00 / 1) (#18)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:30:10 PM EST
    The far Left starts it's conspiracy theories..

    In what, two hours??

    That may not be a record, but it is a great average...

    ;-)

    Parent

    Well you should have a happy 4th (5.00 / 1) (#24)
    by Militarytracy on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 08:26:02 PM EST
    You have something to celebrate now.

    Parent
    Tracy (none / 0) (#26)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 11:42:26 PM EST
    I am always happy, Tracy, or at the least I try very hard to be.

    Because I am well aware that my life is God's gift to me, and that I live in an imperfect country that is still the greatest on God's Green Earth.

    Parent

    Your patriotism at this time in our (5.00 / 1) (#28)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 12:39:14 AM EST
    nation's history is a thing to behold Jim.

    Parent
    Tracy (1.00 / 1) (#31)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 10:08:05 AM EST
    History is full of sunshine patroits.

    For the past 40 years the country has become host to people who, for whatever reason, see nothing but bad in our way of life. Many who are now in their 40's and 50's are the ones who were radicalized in the 60's and early 70's and have now came to full bloom, watered and tended by our use to be great universities they see nothing but bad in our culture, unfairness in our economic system and evil in all those who do not agree with them.

    I believe that our problems are real, but can be corrected. I have seen huge improvements in my life time and believe we can do more.

    But first we must be willing to defend the culture and the country. False humility and the unwillingness to tell newcomers that they are here and must accept the country and not expect separate legal systems is a formula for disaster.

    The threat is real, and it is based on ideology as the current attacks in Great Britian show.

    Parent

    Conspiracy theories? (5.00 / 0) (#25)
    by Edger on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 09:00:37 PM EST
    No ppj. No one but the peasants believes in those conspiracy theories:
    The infallible test for identifying a peasant is whether he believed that Saddam was behind the 9/11 attack. It is an unarguable fact, widely known for years, that Saddam was not behind it, yet large numbers of Americans to this day think that he was. In linking Saddam with 9/11, President Bush [and Scooter Libby et al] simply lied...
    No one but the peasants believes in those conspiracy theories. And you of course, ppj.

    Happy 4th of July...

    Not a white lie, mind you. A killer lie. Scooter Libby deliberately poured poison into the drinking water of democracy by lying to federal investigators, for the purpose of obstructing justice.
    ...
    Even as Iraq grows bloodier by the day, their passion of the week is to keep one of their own from going to jail.
    ...
    None seem the least weighted down by the sheer, glaring unfairness of sentencing soldiers to repeated and longer tours of duty in a war induced by deception.
    ...
    Even as the calamity they created worsens, all they can muster is a cry for leniency for one of their own who lied to cover their tracks.
    ...
    "If the public believes there's one law for a certain group of people in high places and another law for regular people, then you will destroy the law and destroy the system."



    Parent
    edger (1.00 / 1) (#27)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 11:44:29 PM EST
    You still moaning?

    For heaven's sake grow up. You lost one today, but justice won one.

    Parent

    Edger doesn't do projection quite the same (5.00 / 1) (#29)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 12:42:56 AM EST
    way you do.  I don't think he feels like he lost one today.  The leader of the nation was willing to prove to many of us who swore that he could sink no lower that indeed he could but I don't think that Edger feels like HE lost one today.

    Parent
    Tracy (1.00 / 1) (#32)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 10:08:53 AM EST
    Trust me. Edger knows he lost one.

    Parent
    No more psychic network for you! (5.00 / 1) (#35)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 12:41:24 PM EST
    Honestly, right up honestly Jim, everyone who I have met on this road I am on lately that is like Edger and has all the extra energy and time he has to keep up a website like his and participate in the debate such as he does didn't eat any dirt yesterday.  They all expected it but the thing about them is that know where this country has been before on human rights and war aggression and they firmly believe and live each day to do what ever they can to bring the nation once again back to a place we can all take pride in.  It is much larger than Scoot and soap opera of Scoot for them.  I just can't understand how everything that has happened to our country so completely misses finding any mark on you.  My husband cried watching The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, he has been in this military you claim to love so much for nineteen years in January.  He sat on the sofa and cried and told me, "Nobody is ever going to say again Hooray the Americans are here!"

    Parent
    ppj (5.00 / 1) (#30)
    by Edger on Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 01:09:28 AM EST
    If anyone lost anything today, right now it looks like it was the whole country. But I suspect it only looks that way.

    I have a sneaking feeling that Bush made what may turn out the biggest mistake of his life today.

    It might be a good idea to re-acquaint yourself with pendulums.

    Parent

    Edger (1.00 / 1) (#33)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 10:17:16 AM EST
    I understand them totally, and noted their effect in this blog in the aftermath of '04. I have also noted time and again that the time of the swing has become shorter and shorter as we become more and more an information driven society.

    This is currently frightening the Demos who see Talk Radio as the latest "enemy." That Congress has a 14% approval rating should be telling them that they have met the enemy and it is them.

    What the Demos are doing, and may have already done, has taken a national election that was a slam dunk in '08 and put the Repubs in a position to win.

    Think I am wrong?

    The Demos and the Far Left think the Repubs are hurt by the Immigration Bill being rejected....
    That the bill was opposed by 78% of the american people doesn't even seem to sink past their scalp, much less into their brains.

    Parent

    Think again, ppj. (none / 0) (#34)
    by Edger on Tue Jul 03, 2007 at 12:11:07 PM EST
    Sorry... I didn't mean to pressure you to try something so far beyond your capability. Don't try to think, you'll only look foolish, and I don't want you to hurt yourself.

    Pay attention instead:

    Bush presidency enters terminal phase
    July 4, 2007

    There may be moments during their summit at his family's compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, when President George W Bush may look with envy on his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, whose popularity at home guarantees him vast influence even as he prepares to leave office just nine months from now.

    Not so for Bush, whose public approval ratings, according to polls released in just the past week, have reached all-time lows and whose influence - even over his own party - appears to be declining at warp speed.
    ...
    In last week's CBS poll, 23% of respondents said they approved of his handling of the war, while 70%, including one-third of all self-identified Republicans, said they disapproved. Moreover, a whopping 77% of respondents said the war was going either "somewhat" (30%) or "very badly" (47%).

    A record 40% said all troops should be withdrawn, while another 26% said they favored a decreasing the number of troops there now. A CNN poll taken a few days before showed similar numbers.

    With elections 16 months away, Republican incumbents are increasingly aware that Bush/Cheney has become a serious drag on their political aspirations. And, as the election draws near, the pressure to break with the White House - absent a major change of course, at least in Iraq - will become irresistible, just as it did last week on the immigration bill.

    Happy 4th of July, ppj.

    Parent
    scooter (5.00 / 0) (#17)
    by btcbtc on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:28:47 PM EST
    NOW!!! IT'S TIME TO IMPEACH BUSH!!!!!!!!!!

    btcbtc (1.00 / 0) (#19)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:31:30 PM EST
    Hate to tell you this but Bush was well within his powers and rights...

    ;-)

    Parent

    Watching MSNBC (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by andgarden on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:32:48 PM EST
    David Shuster is excellent, as always.

    et al (1.00 / 1) (#10)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:15:10 PM EST
    Yahooooooooooo!!!!!

    Justice is served.

    It sure is. (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by Edger on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:20:06 PM EST
    Bush just drove another nail in his own coffin.

    Parent
    Edger (1.00 / 0) (#16)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:28:10 PM EST
    Acually I didn't think Bush had it in him.

    Good o for him.

    BTW - I have been saying a long time that Bush wasn't concerned over polls.

    I'd say this proves my point.

    BTW - What are you going to do about it??

    Stamp your foot and tell everyone you suffer from BDS??? Heck, we know that.

    ;-)
    ;-)

    Parent

    Maybe you should send (5.00 / 2) (#14)
    by jondee on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:27:13 PM EST
    him a case of soap on a rope, Jim. Preemption and all that.

    Parent
    The Neocons (none / 0) (#1)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 12:42:00 PM EST
    came up with the idea of Bush staying the sentence. It fell pretty flat I think

    I think it is becoming clear that Bush won't lift a finger until the end of his term.

    Scooter is going to jail.

    Boy was I wrong (5.00 / 1) (#21)
    by Big Tent Democrat on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:46:56 PM EST


    Parent
    Oh Well (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by squeaky on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 06:00:51 PM EST
    Being wrong once is not so bad. At least you were wrong enthusiastically.  

    Parent
    Strenuously wrong! (none / 0) (#23)
    by Ellie on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 07:12:35 PM EST
    Not just on the lifting but on which finger got lifted! Wow, just ... wow.

    Ball's in the Dem's court. (Note the apostrophe so I don't get hit with a T for language or troll-warned for inaccurately describing the Dems.)

    Parent

    Pardon? (none / 0) (#2)
    by Mel W on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 12:53:16 PM EST
    I'm betting that whatever their planing to do, parole, clemency etc. will happen this week, probably late on Tuesday.

    Given the depth and importance of the (none / 0) (#3)
    by scribe on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 01:40:11 PM EST
    issues which Scooter's lawyers argued required his getting an appeal bond, and the Court of Appeals' cursory rejection of them (and the potential for reversal these arguments had carried within), one wonders whether Scooter's lawyers will, as the law allows (if not requires) go ahead and file an Anders (v. California, 386 U.S. 738) brief.  

    You know, the Anders brief is the one the convicted criminal defendant's lawyer files, telling the Court of Appeals "I've looked carefully at all the arguments which could be made on appeal, and none of them are non-frivolous.  please discharge me from having to go forward."  Here's a link to a case talking about when and how Anders briefs are to be filed, and how they are to be dealt with.  

    One must remember that the core of Scooter's argument for the appeal bond was that simple, statutory interpretation led ineluctibly in the conclusion Fitz had no power to act as he did, because he was not properly appointed.  Therefore, Scooter must go free because the government never properly prosecuted him.  If (a) that was, as Scooter's lawyers claim, the strongest argument that could be made and (b) the Court of Appeals has now decided Scooter:

    "...  has not shown that the appeal raises a substantial question under 18 USC Sec. 3143(b)(1)(B).  See United States v. Perholtz, 836 F.2d 554, 555 (D.C.Cir. 1987) (per curiam) (substantial question is one that is "close" or that "could very well be decided the other way").",

    does it not follow [<snark>]that (1) he has little, if any, prayer for succeeding on his appeal?  (2) I wonder what his distinguished amici will have to say about this [</snark>], or whether Judge Walton has them too busy doing some pro bono defense work for real indigents and oppressed.

    Nice thing about the Anders brief:  if they file it and it's accepted - it'll save Scooter and Friends a whole lot of money on the appeal.  And Scooter can still file his own brief, during the drafting of which he gets to find out about how much fun (and how effective) it is, doing legal research and writing in a prison library and cell.

    BTW, on the first point - it's looking like a real uphill climb.
    On that second point, I'm betting the amici are busy elsewhere.

    Indigent? (none / 0) (#6)
    by eric on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 03:37:42 PM EST
    Pretty sure Libby isn't indigent - I don't see why his lawyers would want to withdraw.

    Parent
    well, there's the whole "Poor Scooter" (none / 0) (#7)
    by scribe on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 04:06:10 PM EST
    school of Rethug hypocrite whiners, but really, I was being more than a little sarcastic.  But, he's looking at the appeal costing at least $100k (minimum - and that's just for the appeal briefing, etc. - I'd guess it may be several times more), and the legal defense funders are more likely to be pitching their dough to Freddo Thompson for his Presidentin' campaign than after Scooter.

    The points behind encouraging his lawyers to file an Anders brief were both sarcasm and, more seriously, to note that if the Court of Appeals says now that the questions being raised in the application for bail pending appeal are "not close" or could not "have gone either way", the natural and logical conclusions educated lawyers like Scooter's would have to draw are:
    (a) (the Court that will decide is telling them) there is not much of a chance of reversal on the main appeal;
    (b) it's time to turn up the gas on the "Pardon Scooter" burner;
    (c) while this might stir up the fundraising from the more emotionally susceptible, the real money people are pretty cold-blooded and they have also reached the conclusion that this appeal is likely to be a dry hole.  The emotionally susceptible are generally poorer precisely because they are emotionally susceptible and therefore not able to reason and act coldly, this chilled reason and action being traits helpful to making lots of money.

    Seriously, if Scooter wants to try to stay out of jail, he should set up an extended interview with Fitz, and give up Rover and Deadeye.  That's about the only way.  But it's pretty late for that, and he's got no way of knowing whether what he might give Fitz is new, merely confirmatory, or irrelevant.  The latter two don't count for that much.


    Parent

    If Scooter wants a pardon (none / 0) (#4)
    by magster on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 02:26:05 PM EST
    he should schedule a debriefing with Fitzgerald.

    And He's out (none / 0) (#13)
    by dead dancer on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:24:45 PM EST
    Bush spares Libby from prison

    Sorry! And He's Out (none / 0) (#15)
    by dead dancer on Mon Jul 02, 2007 at 05:27:50 PM EST
    Bush spares Libby from prison

    Appeals Court Denies Bond for Scooter Libby | 35 comments (35 topical)

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