How ironic, as I’m sitting on my deck this fourth of July listening to the illegal firecrackers going off in the neighborhood, that the headlines for this Independence Day is the executive commuting of I. Lewis Libby’s sentence by the President of the United States for the crime he was convicted on June 22, 2007. The former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney was found guilty by a jury of his peers on four counts of perjury, lying to the FBI and obstructing an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative’s identity. For this he was sentenced to 30 months of imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. The right-wing conservatives, Bush’s last bastion of support, railed on the President to pardon Libby; but instead the President commuted his 30 month imprisonment.
While many sit in prison, (a vast number of African-Americans), for crimes less serious and even for wrongful imprisonment, the President of the United States used his privilege granted by the Constitution of the United States to commute the sentence of a convicted felon and left open the possibility of a full pardon. The President’s pardon power (as well as commuting a sentence) is established under the United States Constitution, Article II, Section 2:
The President ... shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.
So on July 2, 2007, the White House issued this statement from the Office of the Press Secretary:
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release July 2, 2007
GRANT OF EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS Lewis Libby was convicted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in the case United States v. Libby, Crim. No. 05-394 (RBW), for which a sentence of 30 months' imprisonment, 2 years' supervised release, a fine of $250,000, and a special assessment of $400 was imposed on June 22, 2007;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, pursuant to my powers under Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, do hereby commute the prison terms imposed by the sentence upon the said Lewis Libby to expire immediately, leaving intact and in effect the two-year term of supervised release, with all its conditions, and all other components of the sentence.
IN WITNESS THEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand and seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.
GEORGE W. BUSH
# # #
Of course, the Democrats and many American citizens called the action “cronyism” and there was an outcry against the action of the President. While I find this action of the President not in keeping with the standards proclaimed by this administration against crime and criminal action, he has been given the power through his office to make such a call. So whether we think it is right or wrong, nothing can be done about it.
I take solace through this action as a reminder that one day I had my sentence not just commuted but eternally pardoned. I was guilty and sentenced to an eternal judgment, with no hope of release --- but on July 4, 1970 I was sitting in the back of a tent meeting in Youngstown, Ohio when there was a call to the altar for those who wanted to give their life to Christ. My Lord and Savior was declaring for me a full pardon by virtue of His right as the King of Kings and was commuting my sentence of death. The writings of the Prophet Isaiah declared, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
That night I was baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and then filled with the Holy Ghost. There was an outcry from hell that it was unfair and I deserved to die, but thank God for my pardon. So you see, I can’t hate on I. Lewis Libby because we both have something in common. Happy Independence Day! -- A.G. Brady