Libby Judge to Bush: WTF?
Judge Reggie Walton, the Bush appointee who sentenced Scooter Libby to 30 months in prison for perjury and obstruction of justice, is asking why the President ignored his own administration's directives on federal sentencing guidelines when he commuted Libby's sentence.
Walton said that Libby's 30-month sentence was "consistent with the bottom end of the applicable sentencing range as properly calculated under the United States Sentencing Guidelines." Furthermore, it was a rather lenient sentence in light of a June 1 statement from none other than US Attorney General, Big Alberto Gonzales, which states that sentencing guidelines should be considered" a minimum for judges, not merely a suggestion." Ah, but that was before Scooter got his smackdown.
Walton then said that Bush has "has effectively rewritten the statutory scheme" for sentencing "on an ad hoc basis." In other words, different rules for friends of ours.
What's new?
