It seems that President Roh and the clemency for crooks campaign is a meme that is more common than one would have thought.
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25 Comments
Cheap Shot
On the money though.
Reading the quotes therein made me want to puke. Perhaps Koreans and Americans should curtail the ability of a president to do these things since it seems to be much abused.
The very foundation upon which a democracy rests is the critical doctrine of seperation of powers. The doctrine states that the three branches of government, the police, the judiciary, and the executive must be seperate and independent of each other.
That is why you will find that in the Westminster system as found in The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia etc, Prime Ministers do not overturn the decisions made by the judiciary.
The US may be a democracy, however the ‘quality’ of that democracy is questionable. Unfortunately Korea when it seeks solutions, usually follows either an American or Japanese model. When a President overides the Judiciary, that president clearly displays a blatant disregard for the principals of democracy
Please let’s have a comparison with this one and the pardon of Marc Rich.
Buddha’s birthday comes early for Scooter.
Isn’t 8/15 pardon day? Tomorrow is American 8/15.
Not sure if it’s the one you intend, but there’s a good point here. Regardless of the wisdom of Bush’s action, unlike Clinton and Rich and the omnibus pardons handed out in Korea, Bush only commuted Libby’s prison sentence; he left in place Libby’s other penalties; most significantly, he did not pardon him, thereby restoring his full civil rights. Libby still will be a felon for life.
Thanks for the heads up.
Sperwer, Good Point! Perhaps Austin’s last sentence should have read: “When a President interferes in the judicial process, he undermines one of the basic principles upon which American democracy is founded.” But yes, Libby is still a convicted felon. A status that does not weigh upon the well connected as heavily as it weighs upon the average citizen (in those states where felony convictions still carry post sentence penalties).
You make a good point, too, Lirelou, about the discrepancy between the impact of a felony conviction on the more and less well-to-do. Still, Libby will now be foreclosed from having his hands on the levers of power ever again, and for someone like him that - along with his 250K fine - is a significant penalty.
It’s also worthwhile to note a couple other points:
1. (Relative)Independence of the judiciary from legislative and/or executive interference is not “democratic”; in fact, it’s per se anti-democratic because it deprives the people and/or their representatives from directly exercising their will. It is “republican” — small “r” — which is where the notion of separation of powers comes from.
2. While the founding principles of the American republic did afford the judiciary a fair degree of independence, that idea really wasn’t secured until significantly later in Marshall’s famous decision in Marbury vs. Madison; and Congress still has a lot of latitude in interfering with the independnence of the judiciary by determining the scope of the courts’ jurisdiction.
Regarding “he’ll be a felon for life”, don’t hold your breath. Bush’s commuting of the prison sentence in no way prevents him from granting a pardon later. I rather doubt Scooter will pony up the fine until and unless Bush leaves office without pardoning him.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITI.....index.html
“Commuting Prison Term Is Implicit Critique of Sentencing Standards”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07.....ref=slogin
Justice is truly blind.
So Bush is quickly becoming the new Grant or Reagan. What a wonderful legacy to so gladly imitate the corrupt or inept from history. Happy fourth of July people.
That’s the joy of being a lame duck president with an approval rating in the tank… Bush can wipe his ass with the Bill of Rights knowing full-well that his base won’t care and the rest of the country is too burned out on scandal fatigue to get worked up about it.
worst. president. ever.
The answer to your question is Jimmy Carter.
Don’t hold YOUR breath! That’s partisanship speaking, not reason.
Whatever you think about this present decision, let’s not go overboard with calls for the abolition of executive clemency. The republican system designed by our Founding Fathers is based on the separation of powers and checks and balances, i.e., each branch has the ability to check the power of the others.
Ever since the Warren Court, we’ve seen the system distorted into one where the judiciary considers itself supreme and endowed with nearly limitless power. It now routinely not only judges and reviews constitutionality, but also legislates and dictates the manner of execution of laws and judgments—in short, it infringes upon the powers proper to the other two branches. Given that the judiciary is the branch least subject to the will of the people, this is a scary, scary thing.
So whenever I see the executive and legislative branches exercising their checks on the judiciary—be it impeaching a judge, limiting the court’s jurisdiction, or granting some pardons—my heart cheers a little: the Republic isn’t totally dead.
Jeez, UT, review that NY Times link in #12. I think it would kill the joy you feel in “checks”. This affair — and its sordid history — is not about “checks and balances” but is an example of the same sort of cronyism that we see so often right here in Korea.
Also:
Ok, how about the fact that Marc Rich was rich enough to hire a good lawyer — Scooter Libby.
Now that’s rich.
Save your outrage, Mr. Elgin. The sentence was excessive—Mr. Libby was a first time non-violent offender, a lifetime of public service, and there was no underlying crime whose prosecution was hindered by the purported perjury of Mr. Libby. Further, the President needs no legal basis for granting executive clemency. As former President Clinton pointed out in his New York Times op-ed defending the Marc Rich pardon,
The double standard applied by Bush-haters in this case, as in others, is appalling. Clinton canned all the U.S. attorneys so he could replace them with his cronies, but no one called for an investigation then. But when Bush applied the same prerogative in a slightly different manner, he was corrupt. Clinton pardoned his Whitewater crony Susan McDougal, who had committed real crimes, yet the screaming was nearly silent compared to the caterwauling engendered by this commutation.
I suggest saving your outrage (as I save mine) for Bush’s indefensible usurpations of power and trampling of constitutional protections—not wailing and gnashing your teeth about legitimate exercises of executive power.
I invite Dram Man and any others who still support this president to join the growing number of Americans of all political stripes (27% approval rating and falling) who are fed up with this administration’s incompetence and dishonesty.
America needs patriots who are willing to say enough is enough.
I was wrong (#11). Scooter paid.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19617734/
Guess I’ve been in Korea too long.
Linkd,
The Republic Party has the backing of a lot of people with very, very deep pockets who I’m sure we’re quite willing to cover Libby’s bill in exchange for unspecified favors in the future.
The man got off practically scot-free, and that’s a travesty.
So, why does lying about a non-crime (the Plame be-yotch hadn’t been overseas in more than three years, hence she was not a “secret” agent) deserve 30 months in jail? And what about Richard Armitage, the guy who actually “outed” the chica? As the one actually leaking to the press, does he deserve any punishment? I would say no, as there wasn’t a crime, but why the media silence about that guy? Oh, I forgot, he wasn’t part of the evil Cheney side of the administration; he was on the soft, good guy Colin Powell side.
And then we have the case of Sandy “Stuffed Trou” Berger, a guy who actually did something quite illegal–stealing classified documents–and got away scot free. Nice to see our judiciary has double standards.
UT is absolutely right, we have probably never needed an executive check on the judicial branch more than we do now.
Sorry, that should be, “UV, as in Ut videam, is absolutely right.”