Politics/Law/Government

Conyers slates hearings on abuse of Presidential clemency powers

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I’m trying to imagine how this leads to anything productive, but it’s nonetheless an interesting move.

Judiciary Committee Schedules Hearing on Use and Misuse of Presidential Clemency Power
July 3rd, 2007 by Jesse LeeFrom the Judiciary Committee:

House Judiciary Committee to Address Presidential Clemency Power

(Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. announced that he will be holding a full committee hearing next week titled, “The Use and Misuse of Presidential Clemency Power for Executive Branch Officials.” The hearing will be held next Wednesday, July 11, at 10:15 am in the committee’s hearing room, 2141 Rayburn House Office Building.

“In light of yesterday’s announcement by the President that he was commuting the prison sentence for Scooter Libby, it is imperative that Congress look into presidential authority to grant clemency, and how such power may be abused,” Conyers said. “Taken to its extreme, the use of such authority could completely circumvent the law enforcement process and prevent credible efforts to investigate wrongdoing in the executive branch.”

My expectation is that this will lead to a lot of high talk and finger wagging resulting in … nothing. However, it’s worth noting that the response in the blogosphere to the commuting of Libby’s sentence has been absolutely explosive (I won’t bother linking to anything in particular here – if you have the Internets it’s been impossible to miss). I imagine that between now and then Dem leaders will be trying to assess the degree to which the public is likewise outraged (or, given how the public is, if they’ve even noticed).

If they conclude that America is indeed fed the heck up, maybe this is a precursor to something more serious. Been lots of dangerous talk about impeachment today…

So we’ll be watching. Holding our breath? No, but watching….

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3 replies »

  2. I have yet to believe that anything Congress does will make any difference whatever in the behavior of this person in our White House. So while I will try to muster a little hope, I am, alas, less than sanguine that we are starting down a road that will lead to meaningful change.

    But hell, let them take a swing.

  3. I’m sorry, but this is a complete distraction.

    While we’re wasting time on Libby, the Democrats are getting away with sitting on their hands while Bush has his war. And now it seems that none of the Democratic candidates within reach of the Presidency in 2008 are interested in anything less than indefinite occupation.

    The same indefinite occupation espoused by Hillary Clinton was being peddled virtually unnnoticed by Gates to a bi-partisan crowd this past week. This indicates that the transition from the Bush to the Clinton administration will be so smooth that we’ll barely notice anything happened.

    And in the final analysis, it is we who are to blame for enabling the feckless Democrats who in turn enable the criminal Republicans.

    To hell with Libby — we’ll deal with these criminals later. We must stop the bleeding first. It’s an emergency situation and it’s hell-bound to get worse each passing minute. There is no time to waste.