Mike the Usurper wrote:

1. Was Plame actually a covert agent?

Yes. Not only covert, but by all accounts, she was a NOC, able to use her husbands travel as ambassador to Iraq under HW Bush, and other trips to further her operations.

Apparently Libby's lawyers have argued that this was never proven.

Going by basic guidelines, the sentence for Libby starts out at something like 15-21 months (most of the sentencing news reports have notes on this) and the judge has some discretion. In this case, the judge found that based on the position he held and the damage done to the investigation (Libby effectively blocked it) there were circumstances by which he saw fit to increase that to 30 months. That is still no where near the maximum sentence allowable.

In spite of all the cultural zen that existed in the image of America's sweetheart homemaker going to prison, I feel like cases where its clear nothing wrong was done but they send someone to prison for lying to them are somewhat questionable. (I'm not saying thats the deal here, but it is the story with these sentences.) Basically, the idea that the court can compel you to testify against your friends and loved ones and can imprison you for lying or for refusing to comply seems, frankly, wrong to me. They really are putting a gun to your head and your wife's head and asking you which trigger you'd like them to pull. The length of these sentences, of course, seems questionable in this regard. Having said all of this, those who are most likely to be swinging on a star about Libby's pardon are the exact same people who are usually "throw the book at them" law and order types, so the complaints aren't real credible to me. "What do you think about the Scooter Libby pardon" ought to be a fun one to pop out the next time someone takes a "tough shit" tact in regard to an overzealous sentence.

Oh, and Bush has said a full pardon is still an option.

Likely to be played after the election.

Yes. Fitzgerald's mandate was the leak and related issues. Libby was prosecuted for deliberately blocking that investigation. That is a related issue, and fully within Fitzgerald's purview.

Conservatives argue the whole thing was driven by a partisan agenda and should have been dropped.

I have a feeling this is going to get much much worse for W&Co.

I agree. The level of frustration in liberal circles seems to be explosive. Kind of trite compared to other things that have gone on in the past 8 years, but it could be the straw that broke the camel's back... Emboldened by their win in '06 the left may become rather hard in response to this.

RE: The Volokh Conspiracy - Was the Libby case political?