Government,
Constitutional Law
Jul. 10, 2007
Bush's Saving of Insider Libby Destroys Tradition, Abuses Presidential Power
Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky - The president's recent commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence turned a constitutional prerogative into a tool of shameless political power.
Erwin Chemerinsky
Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law
Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).
By Erwin Chemerinsky
The unmistakable message of President Bush's commutation of I. Lewis Libby's sentence is that breaking the law is fine so long as you work in the White House. Bush's action is one of the worst uses of the pardon power in American history because it excuses a serious abuse of government power.
Libby was convicted by a jury in the District of Columbia of lying t...
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