Conyers Hearing on Libby Commutation: List of witnesses

[seafan]

Via Marcy Wheeler at The Next Hurrah:

July 9, 2007

HJC (House Judiciary Committee) has announced the list of witnesses for Wednesday's hearing on Libby's get-out-of-jail-free. They are:

* Joe Wilson: You guys know him, I think. I suspect he'll talk about how Bush and Cheney are involved in this case.

* Roger Adams, US DOJ Pardon Attorney. He'll end up talking about the normal process for commutation. Hopefully, some smart Congressperson will ask him about the measures Congress put into place to prevent bogus insta-commutations after the Clinton pardons.

* Douglas Berman, Fancy Law Professor, who also blogs at Sentencing Law and Policy. Presumably he'll explain about how Libby had a light sentence within the guidelines and probably about how Libby's sentence may be used by defense lawyers in the future to argue for leniency.

* Tom Cochran, Vincent Rita's lawyer. This is great theater. Rita, of course, just lost a SCOTUS challenge on the appropriateness of his 33 month sentence. SCOTUS said 33 months sounded about right for a guy convicted of perjury. I'm sure Cochran will have a lot to say about how his client's bid to have his sentence lowered because he's a long-term serviceman didn't work. I guess he doesn't have the goods on the Vice President, though.

* David Rivkin. Rivkin is the designated Victoria Toensing of this hearing. He will tell you about how Fitzgerald was a runaway prosecutor. Damn, I wish I were testifying...

All hell is breaking loose since Bush gave Scooter his get out of jail free card.

We are witnesses to unprecedented history unfolding in America.

[L. Coyote]

1. FOCUS: "Did Bush Obstruct Justice?" Although Bush has the power to commute,

did he use the power in a way that was criminal, by obstructing justice. If either/or Bush and Cheney violated the law and now commuting Libby's sentence makes their prosecution less possible, this could be another crime to add to the growing list. It does not matter if he has the power to commute, if that power is used to obstruct justice, the obstruction remains a crime.