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I. Lewis " Scooter" Libby (first name generally given as Irv, Irve or Irving
/ref>lawyer and former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. He became known as a high-ranking staff person to be indicted by a grand jury on charges related to an intelligence investigation. He was convicted but later granted clemency by one Republican president and pardoned by another.
From 2001 to 2005, Libby held the offices of Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs, Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States, and Assistant to the President during the administration of President George W. Bush.
In October 2005, Libby resigned from all three government positions after he was Indictment on five counts by a federal grand jury concerning the investigation of the leak of the covert identity of Central Intelligence Agency officer Valerie Plame. "Indictment" in United States of America vs. I. Lewis Libby, also known as "Scooter Libby", United States Department of Justice, October 28, 2005; accessed December 10, 2007. He was subsequently convicted of four counts (one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury, and one count of making false statements), making him the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since John Poindexter, the national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan convicted in 1990 in the Iran–Contra affair.See also: Associated Press, "A History of Indictments involving White House Staff", USA Today, October 26, 2007; accessed July 6, 2007.
After Libby's failed appeal and a high-pressure lobbying campaign for Libby's full pardon by Vice President Cheney, President Bush commuted Libby's sentence of 31 months in federal prison, leaving the other parts of his sentence intact.Edwin Chen, "Bush Commutes Libby's Prison Term in CIA Leak Case (Update 2)", Bloomberg News, July 2, 2007, accessed July 2, 2007. As a consequence of his conviction in United States v. Libby, Libby's license to practice law was suspended in 2007, for a period of at least five years. He gained reinstatement in 2016. President Donald Trump fully pardoned Libby on April 13, 2018.
Libby graduated from the Eaglebrook School, in Deerfield, Massachusetts, a junior boarding school, in 1965. The family lived in the Washington, D.C., region; Miami; and Connecticut prior to Libby's graduation from Phillips Academy, in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1968.
He and his elder brother, Hank, a tax lawyer (now retired) were the first in the family to graduate from college. Libby attended Yale University in New Haven, graduating magna cum laude in 1972. As Yale Daily News reporter Jack Mirkinson observes, "Even though he would eventually become a prominent Republican, Libby's political beginnings would not have pointed in that direction. He served as vice president of the Yale College Democrats and later campaigned for Michael Dukakis when he was running for governor of Massachusetts." According to Mirkinson: "Two particular Yale courses helped guide Libby's future endeavors. One of these was a creative writing course, which started Libby on a 20-year mission to complete a novel ... later The Apprentice ... and a political science class with professor and future Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. In an interview with author James Mann, Libby said Wolfowitz was one of his favorite professors, and their professional relationship did not end with the class." Wolfowitz became a significant mentor in his later professional life. The biography currently lists only "Senior Adviser"; cf. "I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby", Right Web (International Relations Center), last updated March 21, 2007; accessed July 1, 2007: "As of mid-March 2007 ... Libby's bio page was no longer available on the (Hudson Institute) website, and his name was not included on the organization's list of scholars."]
In 1975, as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, Libby received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Columbia Law School., archived biography at the Libby Legal Defense Trust, n.d., accessed July 16, 2007, and April 12, 2008 (now-obsolete information such as D.C. Bar membership needs updating).
At times, including in the Yale Banner, and as documented in a federal directory cited by Ron Kampeas and others, Libby has used the suffix Jr. after his name. At other times, however, as listed in his federal indictment and United States v. Libby, which give his Pseudonym as Scooter Libby, there is no Jr. after Libby's name. The Columbia Alumni Association online directory lists him as I. Lewis Libby, with a first name of "I." and birth first name of "Irve".
Libby has also been secretive about the origin of his nickname Scooter. The New York Timess Eric Schmitt, citing the aforementioned interview with Libby's brother, wrote that "His nickname 'Scooter' derives from the day his father watched him crawling in his crib and joked, 'He's a Scooter! In a February 2002 interview on Larry King Live, King asked Libby specifically, "Where did 'Scooter' come from?"; Libby replied: "Oh, it goes way back to when I was a kid. Some people ask me if ... crosstalk ... as you did earlier, if it's related to Phil Rizzuto nicknamed. I had the range but not the arm."
Libby practiced law at Schnader for six years before joining the U.S. State Department policy planning staff, at the invitation of his former Yale professor, Paul Wolfowitz, in 1981. In 1985, returning to private practice, he joined the firm then known as Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin (now Dickstein Shapiro LLP), becoming a partner in 1986 and working there until 1989, when he left to work in the U.S. Defense Department, again under his former Yale professor Paul Wolfowitz, until January 1993."Leonard Garment and Four Other Mudge Rose Lawyers Join Washington, D.C. Office of Decert Price & Rhoads", PR Newswire, November 20, 1995, Financial News, accessed via LexisNexis on July 16, 2007.
In 1993, returning to private legal practice from government, Libby became the managing partner of the Washington, D.C., office of Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander & Ferdon (formerly Richard Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, and Alexander); in 1995, along with his Mudge Rose colleague, Leonard Garment––who had replaced John Dean as acting Special Counsel to U.S. President Richard Nixon for the last two years of his presidency dominated by Watergate, and who had hired Libby at Mudge Rose twenty years later––and three other lawyers from that firm, Libby joined the Washington, D.C., office of Dechert (now part of Dechert), where he was a managing partner, a member of its litigation department, and chaired its Public Policy Practice Group. His work there was well regarded, with President Clinton recognizing Libby as one of three "distinguished Republican lawyers" who worked on the Marc Rich pardon case. "My Reasons for the Pardons", W. J. Clinton, The New York Times, February 18, 2001.
In 2001 Libby left the firm to return to work again in government, as Vice President Cheney's chief of staff., United States Department of State, July 2005; accessed April 18, 2008.
Fugitive billionaire commodities trader Marc Rich, who, along with his business partner Pincus Green, had been indicted of tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran, and who, with Green, was ultimately by President Bill Clinton, was a client whom Leonard Garment had hired Libby to help represent around the spring of 1985, after Rich and Green had first engaged Garment. Libby stopped representing Rich in the spring of 2000; early in March 2001, at a "contentious" Congressional hearing to review Clinton's pardons, Libby testified that he thought the prosecution's case against Rich "misconstrued the facts and the law".CNN, "GOP Lawyer: Facts 'misconstrued' in Rich Case", CNN (Archives), March 2, 2001, accessed February 16, 2007. Jackson Hogen, Libby's roommate at Yale University, told U.S. News & World Report
Libby also lost his license to practice or appear in court in Pennsylvania.
During the George H. W. Bush administration, Libby was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as deputy under secretary of defense for policy, serving from 1992 to 1993. In 1992 he also served as legal adviser for the Cox Report. Libby co-authored the draft of the Defense Planning Guidance for the 1994–1999 fiscal years (dated February 18, 1992) with Wolfowitz for Dick Cheney, who was then Secretary of Defense. In 1993 Libby received the Distinguished Service Award from the U.S. Defense Department and the Distinguished Public Service Award from the U.S. State Department before resuming private legal practice first at Mudge Rose and then at Dechert.
Libby was part of a network of neoconservatism known as the "The Vulcans"—its other members included Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld. While he was still a managing partner of Dechert, he was a signatory to the "Statement of Principles" of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) (a document dated June 3, 1997).Elliott Abrams, et al., , June 3, 1997; accessed May 28, 2007. He joined Wolfowitz, PNAC co-founders William Kristol, Robert Kagan, and other "Project Participants" in developing the PNAC's September 2000 report entitled, "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces, and Resources for a New Century".NBC News News Services "Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, a Quiet Force: Vice President's Former Top Aide is Called 'Dick Cheney's Dick Cheney'", NBC News, updated October 28, 2005; accessed February 17, 2007.Thomas Donnelly (Principal Author), et al. (Project for the New American Century), September 2000; accessed June 5, 2007 (Project Co-Chairmen: Donald Kagan and Gary Schmitt; full list of "Project Participants" – I. Lewis Libby Dechert" appears on page 90, followed by this note: "The above list of individuals participated in at least one project meeting or contributed a paper for discussion. The report is a product solely of the Project for the New American Century and does not necessarily represent the views of the project participants or their affiliated institutions.")Karen Kwiatkowski, "The New Pentagon Papers: A High-ranking Military Officer Reveals How Defense Department Extremists Suppressed Information and Twisted the Truth to Drive the Country to War" , Slate, March 10, 2007; accessed April 19, 2007.
After becoming Cheney's chief of staff in 2001, Libby was reportedly nicknamed "Germ Boy" at the White House, for insisting on universal smallpox vaccination.Jeremy Scahill, "Germ Boys and Yes Men", online posting, The Nation, November 9, 2005 (November 28, 2005 issue): 2; accessed March 3, 2007. He was also nicknamed "Dick Cheney's Dick Cheney" for his close working relationship with the Vice President. Mary Matalin, who worked with Libby as an adviser to Cheney during Bush's first term, said of him "He is to the vice president what the vice president is to the president."
Libby was active in the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee of the Pentagon when it was chaired by Richard Perle during the early years of the George W. Bush administration (2001–2003). At various points in his career, Libby has also held positions with the American Bar Association, been on the advisory board of the RAND Corporation's Center for Russia and Eurasia, and been a legal adviser to the United States House of Representatives, as well as served as a consultant for the defense contractor Northrop Grumman.
Libby was also actively involved in the Bush administration's efforts to negotiate the Israeli–Palestinian "road map" for peace; for example, he participated in a series of meetings with Jewish leaders in early December 2002 and a meeting with two aides of then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in mid April 2003, culminating in the Red Sea Summit on June 4, 2004.Matthew E. Berger, "As White House Menorah Is Lit, Bush Speaks of His Resolve Against Terror", Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 2, 2002; accessed March 24, 2007: "some Jewish leaders also met Wednesday November with Bush administration officials, including the deputy secretary of state, Richard Armitage, and Lewis Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney ... The message from those meetings, attendees said, was that the United States will not deviate from Bush's June 24 speech, in which he called for new Palestinian leadership and, possibly, a Palestinian state within three years ..."Steven R. Weisman, "White House Is Pressing Israelis To Take Initiatives in Peace Talks", The New York Times April 17, 2003, accessed March 23, 2008: "It was considered significant that the White House meeting with Ariel Sharon's aides on Tuesday April was attended on the American side not only by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, but by others in the administration whom Israel considers more sympathetic. ... These other officials included Elliott Abrams, the top White House adviser on the Middle East, as well as I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, and Douglas Feith, under secretary of defense for policy." In their highly controversial and widely contested "Working Paper" entitled "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy", University of Chicago political science professor John J. Mearsheimer and academic dean of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University Stephen M. Walt argue that Libby was among the Bush administration's most "fervently pro-Israel ... officials" (20).John J. Mearsheimer (Department of Political Science, University of Chicago) and Stephen M. Walt (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University), "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" , online posting, Harvard University, March 2006 (RWP06‐011), accessed July 1, 2007. (Document features institutional disclaimer and notes that "An edited and reworked version of this paper" was published in London Review of Books, 28.6 (March 23, 2006), "available online at www.lrb.co.uk." The LRB version entitled "The Israel Lobby" contains the same passage qtd. above in this text; it is rpt. as part of the LRB feature article entitled "The Israel Lobby Debate", incorporating a video link to "Israel lobby: does it have too much influence on American foreign policy?"; "The panellists were Shlomo Ben-Ami, Martin Indyk, Tony Judt, Rashid Khalidi, John Mearsheimer and Dennis Ross, and the moderator was Anne-Marie Slaughter." Also accessed July 1, 2007.)
Libby also serves as a member of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, a group that encourages and advocates changes to government policy to strengthen national biodefense. In order to address biological threats facing the nation, the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense created a 33 step initiative for the U.S. Government to implement. Headed by former Senator Joe Lieberman and former governor Tom Ridge, the Study Panel assembled in Washington, D.C., for four meetings concerning current biodefense programs. The Study Panel concluded that the federal government had little to no defense mechanisms in case of a biological event. The Study Panel's final report, The National Blueprint for Biodefense, proposes a string of solutions and recommendations for the U.S. Government to take, including items such as giving the vice president authority over biodefense responsibilities and merging the entire biodefense budget. These solutions represent the panel's call to action in order to increase awareness and activity for pandemic-related issues.
In August 2005, as revealed in grand jury testimony audiotapes played during the trial and reported in many news accounts, Libby testified that he met with Judith Miller, a reporter with The New York Times, on July 8, 2003, and discussed Plame with her. "Libby's Complete Grand Jury Testimony", transcript and NPR audio player clips, National Public Radio, February 9, 2007; accessed June 29, 2007.
Although Libby signed a "blanket waiver" allowing journalists to discuss their conversations with him pursuant to the CIA leak grand jury investigation, Miller maintained that such a waiver did not serve to allow her to reveal her source to that grand jury; moreover, Miller argued that Libby's general waiver pertaining to all journalists could have been coercion and that she would only testify before that grand jury if given an individual waiver.Murray Waas, ed., with Jeff Lomonaco, The United States v. I. Lewis Libby (New York: Union Square Press (imprint of Sterling Publishing), 2007); (10); (13).
After refusing to testify about her July 2003 meeting with Libby, Judith Miller was jailed on July 7, 2005, for contempt of court. Months later, however, her new attorney, Robert Bennett, told her that she already had possessed a written, voluntary waiver from Libby all along.Margaret Carlson, "Time's Pearlstine Looks Back at Plamegate, Blames Floyd Abrams", Bloomberg.com, last updated June 27, 2007; accessed June 29, 2007. After Miller had served most of her sentence, Libby reiterated that he had indeed given her a "waiver" both "voluntarily and personally." He attached the following letter, which, when released publicly, became the subject of further speculation about Libby's possible motives in sending it:
As noted above, my lawyer confirmed my waiver to other reporters in just the way he did with your lawyer. Why? Because as I am sure will not be news to you, the public report of every other reporter's testimony makes clear that they did not discuss Ms. Plame's name or identity with me, or knew about her before our call.
After agreeing to testify, Miller was released on September 29, 2005, appearing before the grand jury the next day, but the charge against her was rescinded only after she testified again on October 12, 2005. For her second grand jury appearance, Miller produced a notebook from a previously undisclosed meeting with Libby on June 23, 2003, two weeks before Wilson's New York Times op-ed was published. In her account published in the Times on October 16, 2005, based on her notes, Miller reports:
... in an interview with me on June 23 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, discussed Mr. Wilson's activities and placed blame for intelligence failures on the CIA. In later conversations with me, on July 8 and July 12 2003, Mr. Libby, ... at Mr. Cheney's top aide, played down the importance of Mr. Wilson's mission and questioned his performance ... My notes indicate that well before Mr. Wilson published his critique, Mr. Libby told me that Mr. Wilson's wife may have worked on unconventional weapons at the CIA. ... My notes do not show that Mr. Libby identified Mr. Wilson's wife by name. Nor do they show that he described Valerie Wilson as a covert agent or "operative"...
Her notation on her July 8, 2003 meeting with Libby does contain the name "Valerie Flame ", which she added retrospectively. While Miller reveals publicly that she herself had misidentified the last name of Wilson's wife (aka "Valerie Plame") in her own marginal notes on their interview as "Flame" instead of "Plame", in her grand jury (and later trial testimony), she remained uncertain when, how, and why she arrived at that name and did not attribute it to Libby:
I was not permitted to take notes of what I told the grand jury, and my interview notes on Mr. Libby are sketchy in places. It is also difficult, more than two years later, to parse the meaning and context of phrases, of underlining and of parentheses. On one page of my interview notes, for example, I wrote the name "Valerie Flame." Yet, as I told Mr. Fitzgerald, I simply could not recall where that came from, when I wrote it or why the name was misspelled ... I testified that I did not believe the name came from Mr. Libby, in part because the notation does not appear in the same part of my notebook as the interview notes from him.
A year and a half later, a jury convicted Libby of obstruction of justice and perjury in his grand jury testimony and making false statements to federal investigators about when and how he learned that Plame was a CIA agent.
On April 13, 2018, Libby was pardoned by President Donald Trump.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> "Transcript of General Hayden's Interview with WTOP", June 1, 2007Joel Seidman, "Plame Was 'covert' Agent At Time of Name Leak", MSNBC.com, May 29, 2007; accessed June 10, 2007.Neil A. Lewis, "Source of C.I.A. Leak Said to Admit Role" Pursuant to the grand jury investigation, Libby had told FBI investigators that he first heard of Mrs. Wilson's CIA employment from Cheney, and then later heard it from journalist Tim Russert, and acted as if he did not have that information. "Russert Says He Didn't Give Libby Agent's ID", CNN.com, February 8, 2007, accessed July 14, 2007. "Russert Testifies in Libby Perjury Trial: Packed Court Hears NBC Newsman Deny Identifying CIA Operative", NBC News, February 12, 2007, accessed July 14, 2007. The indictment alleges that statements to federal investigators and the grand jury were intentionally false, in that Libby had numerous conversations about Mrs. Wilson's CIA employment, including his conversations with Judith Miller (see above), before speaking to Russert; Russert did not tell Libby about Mrs. Wilson's CIA employment; prior to talking with such reporters, Libby knew with certainty that she was employed by the CIA; and Libby told reporters that she worked for the CIA without making any disclaimer that he was uncertain of that fact. The false statements counts in the Libby indictment charge that he intentionally made those false statements to the FBI; the perjury counts charge that he intentionally lied to the grand jury in repeating those false statements; and the obstruction of justice count charges that Libby intentionally made those false statements in order to mislead the grand jury, thus impeding Fitzgerald's grand jury investigation of the truth about the leaking of Mrs. Wilson's then-classified, covert CIA identity.
Libby retained attorney Ted Wells of the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to represent him. Wells had successfully defended former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy against a 30-count indictment and had also participated in the successful defense of former Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan.Viveca Novak, "Was This a Bad Idea? A Verdict Clearing Espy Is the Latest Sign That the Independent-Counsel Statute Is Likely to Perish", CNN News, December 17, 1998, accessed July 3, 2007.
After Judge Reggie Walton denied Libby's motion to dismiss, the press initially reported that Libby would testify at the trial.Jeralyn Merritt, "Libby to Testify at His Trial", TalkLeft (accredited press blog), September 23, 2006; accessed January 24, 2007. Libby's criminal trial, United States v. Libby, began on January 16, 2007. A parade of Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists testified, including Bob Woodward, Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post and Judith Miller and David E. Sanger of The New York Times. Despite earlier press reports and widespread speculation, neither Libby nor Vice President Cheney testified. The jury began deliberations on February 21, 2007.
After the verdict, initially, Libby's lawyers announced that he would seek a new trial, and that, if that attempt were to fail, they would appeal Libby's conviction. "Libby Lawyer Demands New Trial After Conviction", CNN Newsroom, March 6, 2007; accessed March 6, 2007. "Libby Found Guilty of Perjury, Obstruction", CNN Newsroom, March 6, 2007, accessed March 6, 2007. Libby did not speak to reporters. Libby's defense team eventually decided against seeking a new trial.Mel Sembler, Chairman, Libby Defense Trust, and the Advisory Committee, "Message from the Chairman", Libby Defense Trust, scooterlibby.com, June 1, 2007, accessed June 5, 2007.
Speaking to the media outside the courtroom after the verdict, Fitzgerald said that "The jury worked very long and hard and deliberated at length ... and was obviously convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had lied and obstructed justice in a serious manner ... I do not expect to file any further charges." "Jurors Convict Libby on Four of Five Charges: Cheney's Ex-aide Faces Jail Time in CIA Leak Case; Sentencing Set for June", NBC News, March 6, 2007, updated 9:18 p.m., ET, accessed March 7, 2007. CNN video clip of Fitzgerald's remarks, March 6, 2007; accessed June 8, 2007. (Access limited to one viewing per day.) The trial confirmed that the leak came first from then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; since Fitzgerald did not charge Armitage and did not charge anyone else, Libby's conviction effectively ended the investigation.
In his October 28, 2005, press conference about the grand jury's indictment, Fitzgerald had already explained that Libby's obstruction of justice through perjury and false statements had prevented the grand jury from determining whether the leak violated federal law. Transcript of Special Counsel Fitzgerald's press conference, The Washington Post, October 28, 2005; accessed June 8, 2007.
During his media appearance outside the courtroom after the verdict in the Libby case, Fitzgerald fielded questions from the press about others involved in the Plame affair and in the CIA leak grand jury investigation, such as Armitage and Cheney, whom he had already described as under "a cloud", as already addressed in his conduct of the case and in his closing arguments in court. Transcript and video clips presented on Hardball with Chris Matthews, NBC News, March 6, 2007Jeralyn Merritt, "Fitz Closing in Libby; Cheney Is Under a Cloud" TalkLeft (accredited press blog), February 24, 2007; accessed June 8, 2007, observes that "Fitzgerald squarely blames Libby for putting the cloud on the Vice President," quoting from Fitzgerald's closing arguments, e.g.:
There is a cloud over the vice president. He sent Libby off to meet Judith Miller at the St. Regis Hotel. At that meeting, the two-hour meeting, the defendant Libby talked about the wife Plame. We didn't put that cloud there. That cloud remains because the defendant obstructed justice and lied about what happened ... He's put the doubt into whatever happened that week, whatever is going on between the Vice President and the defendant, that cloud was there. That's not something that we put there. That cloud is something that we just can't pretend isn't there.
On June 5, 2007, Judge Walton sentenced Libby to 30 months in prison and fined him $250,000, clarifying that Libby would begin his sentence immediately. According to Apuzzo and Yost, the judge also "placed him on two years probation after his prison sentence expires. There is no parole in the federal system, but Libby would be eligible for release after two years." In addition, Judge Walton required Libby to provide "400 hours of community service" during his supervised release. (Provides link to PDF of Judge Walton's "Judgment in a Criminal Case" in United States v. Libby, filed June 22, 2007, accessed July 8, 2007.) On June 5, 2007, after the announcement of Libby's sentencing, CNN reported that Libby still "plans to appeal the verdict".
That day, in response to the sentencing, Vice President Cheney issued a statement in Libby's defense on The White House website. The statement concluded: "Speaking as friends, we hope that our system will return a final result consistent with what we know of this fine man."
Joseph and Valerie Wilson posted their statement on Libby's sentencing in United States v. Libby on their website, "grateful that justice has been served."
... It is an impressive show of public service when twelve prominent and distinguished current and former law professors are able to amass their collective wisdom in the course of only several days to provide their legal expertise to the court on behalf of a criminal defendant. The Court trusts that this is a reflection of these eminent academics' willingness in the future to step to the plate and provide like assistance in cases involving any of the numerous litigants, both in this Court and throughout the courts of this nation, who lack the financial means to fully and properly articulate the merits of their legal positions even in instances where failure to do so could result in monetary penalties, incarceration, or worse. The Court will certainly not hesitate to call for such assistance from these luminaries, as necessary in the interests of justice and equity, whenever similar questions arise in the cases that come before it."
Moreover, when the hearing started, "in the interest of full disclosure," Walton informed the court that he had "received a number of harassing, angry and mean-spirited phone calls and messages. Some wishing bad things on me and my family ... Those types of things will have no impact ... I initially threw them away, but then there were more, some that were more hateful ... They are being kept."
New York Times reporters Neil Lewis and David Stout estimated subsequently that Libby's prison sentence could begin within "two months", explaining that
Judge Walton's decision means that the defense lawyers will probably ask a federal appeals court to block the sentence, a long-shot move. It also sharpens interest in a question being asked by Mr. Libby's supporters and critics alike: Will President Bush pardon Mr. Libby? ... So far, the president has expressed sympathy for Mr. Libby and his family but has not tipped his hand on the pardon issue. ... If the president does not pardon him, and if an appeals court refuses to second-guess Judge Walton's decision, Mr. Libby will probably be ordered to report to prison in six to eight weeks' time. Federal prison authorities will decide where. "Unless the Court of Appeals overturns my ruling, he will have to report", Judge Walton said.Neil A. Lewis and David Stout, "Judge Won't Delay Libby Prison Term", The New York Times, June 14, 2007; accessed June 16, 2007.
On July 2, 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied Libby's request for a delay and release from his prison sentence, stating that Libby "has not shown that the appeal raises a substantial question under federal law that would merit letting him remain free," increasing "pressure on President George W. Bush to decide soon whether to pardon Libby ... as the former White House official's supporters have urged."Cary O'Reilly, "Libby, Ex-Cheney Aide, Must Go to Jail During Appeal (Update2)", Bloomberg News, July 2, 2007. According to O'Reilly, "The appeals court case is U.S. v. Libby, 07-3068, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Washington)."Cf. Matt Apuzzo (Associated Press), "Court to Libby: Go Directly to Jail" , The Globe and Mail, July 2, 2007. "The
Surveying "the pardon battle" and citing both pro and con publications, The Washington Post online columnist Dan Froomkin concludes that many U.S. newspapers opposed a presidential pardon for Libby.Dan Froomkin, "Many Newspapers Oppose Pardon", White House Watch (column and blog), washingtonpost.com, June 7, 2007; accessed June 7, 2007. Much of this commentary obscured the fact that the clemency power provided the President with several options short of a full, unconditional pardon. In an op-ed published in The Washington Post, former federal prosecutor and conservative activist William Otis argued the sentence was too stringent and that, instead of pardoning Libby, Bush should commute his sentence. "Neither Prison Nor Pardon: Justice in the Libby Case Lies With Bush's Third Option" by William Otis, The Washington Post, June 7, 2007: A-27; posted online June 7, 2007; accessed June 7, 2007.
After the sentencing, Bush stated on camera that he would "not intervene until Libby's legal team has exhausted all of its avenues of appeal ... It wouldn't be appropriate for me to discuss the case until after the legal remedies have run its course."Jim Rutenberg, "Bush in Dilemma on Libby Pardon", International Herald Tribune, June 7, 2007; accessed June 7, 2007. Ultimately, less than a month later, on July 2, 2007, Bush chose Otis's 'third option' — "neither prison nor pardon" — in commuting Libby's prison sentence.George W. Bush, "Grant of Executive Clemency: A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America", The White House, July 2, 2007
After Libby was denied bail during his appeal process on July 2, 2007, Bush commuted Libby's 30-month federal prison sentence, calling it "excessive", but he did not change the other parts of the sentence and their conditions. That presidential commutation left in place the felony conviction, the $250,000 fine, and the terms of probation. Some have criticized the move, as presidential commutations are rarely issued, but when granted they have generally occurred after the convicted person has already served a substantial portion of his or her sentence: "We can't find any cases, certainly in the last half-century, where the president commuted a sentence before it had even started to be served," said former Justice Department pardon Lawyer Margaret Colgate Love. Others, notably Cheney himself who argued that Libby was unfairly charged by a politically motivated prosecution, believed that the commutation fell short, as Libby would likely never practice law again.
At the time, Bush explained his "Grant of Executive Clemency" to Libby, in part, as follows:
Bush's explanation was written by Fred F. Fielding, White House Counsel during the last two years of Bush's presidency. According to a Time article published six months after Bush left office, Fielding worded the commutation "in a way that would make it harder for Bush to revisit it in the future ...; the language was intended to send an unmistakable message, internally as well as externally: No one is above the law." The article suggested that there was a fundamental difference between how Bush and Cheney viewed the "War on Terror", with aides close to Bush feeling that Cheney had misled the President and damaged the administration's moral character with the Plame leak.
Libby's lawyer, Ted Wells "issued a brief statement saying Mr. Libby and his family 'wished to express their gratitude for the president's decision ... We continue to believe in Mr. Libby's innocence'. ... "
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, however, took issue with Bush's description of the sentence as 'excessive', saying it was "imposed pursuant to the laws governing sentencings which occur every day throughout this country ... It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals ... That principle guided the judge during both the trial and the sentencing," Fitzgerald said.Qtd. by CNN, "Bush Commutes Libby's Prison Sentence", CNN News, July 2, 2007 (updated periodically), accessed July 3, 2007.
The day after the commuting of Libby's sentence, James Rowley (Bloomberg News) reported that Bush had not ruled out pardoning Libby in the future and that Bush's press spokesman, Tony Snow, denied any political motivation in the commutation. Quoting Snow, Rowley added: The president is getting pounded on the right because he didn't do a full pardon.' If Bush were 'doing the weather-vane thing' he 'would have done something differently.
Democratic politicians' responses stressed their outrage at what they called a disgraceful abrogation of justice, and, that evening CNN reported that Representative John Conyers, Democrat of Michigan, announced that there would be a formal Congressional investigation of Bush's commutation of Libby's sentence and other presidential reprieves.
The hearing on "The Use and Misuse of Presidential Clemency Power for Executive Branch Officials" was held by the United States House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Conyers, on July 11, 2007.
Just a few days later, however, Judge Walton questioned "whether ... Libby will face two years of probation, as President said he would," because the supervised release time is conditioned on Libby's serving the prison sentence, and he "directed the special prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, and ... Libby's lawyers to file arguments on the point. ... " "If Judge Walton does not impose any supervised release, it could undercut ... Bush's argument that ... Libby still faced stiff justice." That issue was resolved on July 10, 2007, clearing the way for Libby to begin serving the rest of his sentence, the supervised release and 400 hours of community service.
In response to Bush's justifications for Pardon, liberal commentator Harlan J. Protass noted that in Rita v. United States, Rita v. United States, online posting in Supreme Court Collection, Legal Resource Institute, Cornell University Law School; accessed July 4, 2007. the case of a defendant convicted of perjury in front of a grand jury which had been decided two weeks earlier by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. government had successfully argued that sentences that fall within Federal Sentencing Guidelines are presumed to be "reasonable", regardless of individual circumstances.
Reportedly outraged by Bush's commutation of Libby's prison sentence, on July 2, 2007, Wilson told CNN: "I have nothing to say to Scooter Libby ... I don't owe this administration. They owe my wife and my family an apology for having betrayed her. Scooter Libby is a traitor. Bush's action ... demonstrates that the White House is corrupt from top to bottom." He reiterated this perspective on the commutation in the House Judiciary Committee hearing on July 11, 2007, vehemently protesting that a Republican congressman was engaging in "yet a further smear of my wife's good name and my good name."
According to a USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted from July 6 to July 8, 2007, "most Americans disagree with President George W. Bush's decision to intervene" on Libby's behalf in the case.Jeffrey M. Jones (Gallup Poll), "Two in Three Say Bush Should Not Have Intervened in Libby Case: Only 13% Say Commuting Sentence Was Right Thing to Do", USA Today/Gallup Poll, July 10, 2007, accessed July 10, 2007: "The July 6–8 poll finds 66% of Americans saying Bush should not have intervened on Libby's behalf. Only 13% say Bush was 'right to commute Libby's sentence,' while even fewer, 6%, say Bush 'should have gone farther and granted Libby a full pardon.' About one in six have no opinion of the matter."
Several months after Bush's action, Judge Walton commented publicly on it. He spoke in favor of applying the law equally, stating: "The downside of is there are a lot of people in America who think that justice is determined to a large degree by who you are and that what you have plays a large role in what kind of justice you receive. ... "
Bush took no further action with respect to Libby's conviction or sentence during his presidential term, despite entreaties from conservatives that he should be pardoned. Two days after their term expired, former Vice President Cheney expressed his regret that Bush had not pardoned Libby on his last day in office.
In a September 2008 Wall Street Journal editorial, attorney Alan Dershowitz cited the "questionable investigations" of Scooter Libby as evidence of the problems brought to the criminal justice process by "politically appointed and partisan attorneys general". In April 2015, also writing in The Wall Street Journal, Hoover Institution fellow Peter Berkowitz argued that statements by Judith Miller, in her recently published memoir, raised anew contentions that her testimony was inaccurate and that Fitzgerald's conduct as prosecutor was inappropriate.Peter Berkowitz, "The False Evidence Against Scooter Libby", The Wall Street Journal, April 6, 2015.
On June 21, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal. "Supreme Court will not revive Valerie Plame lawsuit" , Washington Examiner, June 21, 2009. Retrieved May 26, 2012.
Justin Kirk played Libby in the 2018 film Vice.
Libby paid the required fine of "$250,400, which included a 'special assessment' of costs" that same day.
Press coverage of Libby's trial
Blogs played a prominent role in the press coverage of Libby's trial. Scott Shane, in his article "For Liberal Bloggers, Libby Trial Is Fun and Fodder", published in The New York Times on February 15, 2007, quotes Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Association, who wrote that the trial was "the first federal case for which independent bloggers have been given official credentials along with reporters from the traditional news media."Scott Shane, "For Brigade of Liberal Bloggers, the Libby Trial Is Fun and Fodder", The New York Times, February 15, 2007; updated with appended correction, February 17, 2007, accessed March 24, 2007. The Scooter Libby Trial, Media Bloggers Association, February 20, 2007 – June 28, 2007 (updated periodically), accessed June 30, 2007. The trial was followed in the mass media and engaged the interest of both professional legal experts and the general public. While awaiting the judge's ruling pertaining to supervised release and the "400 hours of community service that Judge Walton imposed", for example, bloggers discussed the legal issues involved in these non-commuted parts of Libby's sentence and their effects on Libby's future life experiences.Jeralyn Merritt, "All Sides Agree Libby Should Serve Supervised Release", TalkLeft (accredited press blog), July 9, 2007; accessed July 10, 2007 (Provides links to PDF versions of the various legal briefs.)
Criticism of investigation
On August 28, 2006, Christopher Hitchens asserted that Richard Armitage was the primary source of the Valerie Plame leak and that Fitzgerald knew this at the beginning of his investigation. This was supported a month later by Armitage himself, who stated that Fitzgerald had instructed him not to go public with this information. Investor's Business Daily questioned Fitzgerald's truthfulness in an editorial, stating "From top to bottom, this has been one of the most disgraceful abuses of prosecutorial power in this country's history ... The Plame case proves Fitzgerald can bend the truth with the proficiency of the slickest of pols."
The Wilsons' civil suit
On July 13, 2006, Joseph and Valerie Wilson filed a civil lawsuit against Libby, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and other unnamed senior White House officials (among whom they later added Richard Armitage) "Armitage Added to Plame Law Suit", CBS News, September 13, 2006, accessed September 25, 2006; includes PDF. Cf. Amended complaint at FindLaw.com. for their role in the public disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified CIA status.Proskauer Rose LLP, "Valerie Plame Wilson and Ambassador Joseph Wilson Initiate a Civil Action Against Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby for Violations of their Constitutional and Other Legal Rights", Yahoo Business Wire (Press Release), July 13, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006; cf. , rpt. in How Appealing (blog), July 13, 2006, accessed July 15, 2006. Judge John D. Bates dismissed the Wilsons' lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds on July 19, 2007.Associated Press, "Valerie Plame's Lawsuit Dismissed", USA Today, July 19, 2007, accessed July 19, 2007. "Judge Tosses Out Ex-Spy's Lawsuit Against Cheney in CIA Leak Case", CNN.com, July 19, 2007, accessed July 19, 2007.Carol D. Leonnig, "Plame's Lawsuit Against Top Officials Dismissed", The Washington Post, July 20, 2007, accessed July 20, 2007. "Memorandum Opinion", in "Valerie Wilson, et al., Plaintiffs, v. I. Lewis Libby, Jr., et al., Defendants", "Civil Action No. 06-1258 (JDB)", United States District Court for the District of Columbia, July 19, 2007, accessed July 20, 2007. The Wilsons appealed Bates's district-court decision the next day. Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust Home Page, July, accessed July 27, 2007. Cf. "Statement on Ambassador Joseph and Valerie Wilsons' Appeal Filed on July 20" , Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), July 20, 2007, accessed July 27, 2007. Agreeing with the Bush administration, the Obama Justice Department argued that the Wilsons had no legitimate grounds to sue. Melanie Sloan, one of the Wilsons' attorneys, said: "We are deeply disappointed that the Obama administration has failed to recognize the grievous harm top Bush White House officials inflicted on Joe and Valerie Wilson. The government's position cannot be reconciled with President Obama's oft-stated commitment to once again make government officials accountable for their actions." "Obama Administration Opposes Joe and Valerie Wilson's Request for Supreme Court Appeal in Suit Against Cheney, Rove, Libby and Armitage", Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), May 20, 2009, accessed May 22, 2009.
Restoration of voting rights, law license, and presidential pardon
Libby's voting rights were restored on November 1, 2012 by then-Governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell. Libby was part of a larger group of individuals who had their voting rights restored by McDonnell, all of whom were non-violent offenders. Four years later, on November 3, 2016, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals granted Libby's petition for reinstatement to the D.C. Bar. On April 13, 2018, President Donald Trump pardoned Libby.
In media portrayals
David Andrews played Scooter Libby in the 2010 film Fair Game, which is about the Plame affair.
See also
Notes
Citations
External links
Categories: 1950 Births, American Jews, American Lawyers, Assistants To The President Of The United States, Chiefs Of Staff To The Vice President Of The United States, Columbia Law School Alumni, Columbia University Alumni, Living People, Pennsylvania Democrats, Pennsylvania Republicans, People Associated With The Plame Affair, People From Mclean, Virginia, Lawyers From New Haven, Connecticut, Lawyers From Philadelphia, Phillips Academy Alumni, Reagan Administration Personnel, Recipients Of American Presidential Clemency, People Pardoned By Donald Trump, Yale University Alumni, Hudson Institute, Members Of The Jewish Institute For National Security Of America
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