Pardon for Scooter Libby?

This blog features a series of regularly updated, brief essays regarding the possible presidential pardon of "Scooter" Libby with an emphasis on history, law and empirical research. The creator is ProfessorP.S. Ruckman, Jr., author of the forthcoming book, Pardon Me, Mr. President: Adventures in Crime, Politics and Mercy .

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Bush Pardons 29. No Libby.

29 pardons and 1 commutation to be exact. And Scooter Libby is not in the bunch. It is, however, the largest number of pardons and commutations that George W. Bush has granted in a single day, bringing his total to 142 and 5 respectively. Gotta love AOL's headline on the matter: "Bush Pardons 29 Criminals." What class!

To date, 49 percent of Bush's pardons and commutations have landed in the month of December. The big difference, this time around, is that the pardons and the commutation of sentence were not closer to Christmas. In the past, Bush acted on the the 20th (twice), the 21st and the 23rd of the month. Perhaps we will see a second round? To see updated data on clemency actions, by month, during the Bush presidency here.

It appears that no one on my pardon watch list was affected. See full story on today's pardons and the commutation of sentence at these links: Reuters here. MSNBC here . Associated Press here. FOX News here.