The Hollywood Liberal

Judge Walton: Bush’s commutation of Libby sentence creates impression of unequal justice.
U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton sentenced Scooter Libby to 2.5 years in prison after a jury convicted the former White House staffer of lying to federal prosecutors and impeding an investigation into leak of a former CIA agent’s identity. Walton’s sentence was overturned by President Bush’s commutation order last July. In an interview with […]

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton sentenced Scooter Libby to 2.5 years in prison after a jury convicted the former White House staffer of lying to federal prosecutors and impeding an investigation into leak of a former CIA agent’s identity. Walton’s sentence was overturned by President Bush’s commutation order last July. In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Walton said that, while he respected the president’s authority to issue the commutation, Bush’s actions create an impression of unequal justice under the law:

Walton, whom Bush nominated to the District of Columbia bench, acknowledged Tuesday that Bush’s decision was part of the system, but he also said it fed some people’s notion that justice isn’t equal.

“The president has that authority and exercised it, and that has to be respected,” said Walton, who is to speak Thursday in Milwaukee at a literacy event.

“The downside 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. … It is crucial that the American public respect the rule of law, or people won’t follow it.”

“I believe firmly you apply the law and apply it strictly,” Walton said from his chambers in Washington. “I don’t give white-collar criminals a pass.”

Lawmakers to See Secret Documents
The Justice Department yesterday agreed to grant lawmakers limited access to secret memos that authorized CIA interrogation strategies, an offer that Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) immediately criticized as “certainly too late . . . and too little, as well.”

A Colombian Vision for Iraq
Robert Kaplan, The Atlantic

Obama’s Wright Turn
When Barack Obama made his official announcement that he was running for President over 14 months ago in Springfield, Illinois, the Senator made sure that his pastor Jeremiah Wright had no speaking role and was kept away from the ceremony. Obama campaign manager David Axelrod has admitted that there were concerns back then about what Wright might say. When Senator Obama made his speech in Philadelphia on race in America following the first round of Reverend Wright media exposure several weeks back, he admitted he had heard some of the Reverend’s more controversial remarks in person in church.

“I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely — just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.” ?

But now, the Senator has really had enough of Reverend Wright. In a press conference Tuesday, Obama condemned Wright, and claimed that Wright had offended him with his latest tirade on Monday at the National Press Club.