Libby to Jail

Scooter Libby has lost his appeal of Judge Walton's decision not to grant him bail pending his substantive appeal, meaning that, absent a pardon or some sort of commutation of his sentence by President Bush, he'll be headed to prison very shortly.

Because we all know how conservative pundits and politicians are going to react to this news, I just want to take a second to review how we got to this point.

This began with a criminal referral from the CIA (that hotbed of liberalism) to John Ashcroft's Justice Department. When Ashcroft (a Republican) recused himself from the case, his deputy James Comey (another Republican) appointed Patrick Fitzgerald (yet another Republican) to oversee the case. Though he likely could have secured indictments against a number of administration officials (including Karl Rove), Fitzgerald chose the conservative route and only indicted the person who had most obviously lied and obstructed the investigation, Scooter Libby. Refusing to plea, Libby hired all the best lawyers in Washington and took the case to trial, where a sympathetic jury nevertheless convicted him of four felony counts. He expressed no contrition following his conviction and was therefore sentenced by a Republican-appointed judge to a prison term well within existing sentencing guidelines (which are steep because Republicans want them that way). His request to remain free pending appeal was denied and that denial was confirmed unanimously by a three-judge panel consisting of two Republican-appointed judges.

Clearly this a partisan witch hunt.