"Fallen Soldier"

This would be, perhaps, affecting if he were talking about a real soldier. As it stands, it's a maudlin piece of special pleading for one of the few in this criminal administration who has actually been caught out.

This case has been, from the start, about the Iraq war and its legitimacy. Judge Walton came to it late; before him were laid bare the technical and narrowly legalistic matters of it. But you possess a greater knowledge of this case, a keen sense of the man caught up in this storm, and of the great contest and tensions that swirl around the Iraq war. To Scooter's detractors, and yours, it was the "sin" of that devoted public servant that he believed in the nobility of this war, that he did not trim his sails, and that he didn't duck when the war lost its luster.

Makes me want to puke.

Remember what I've been saying about the use of language to undercut reality. Libby's trial never was about the war. That's a crock. It's about endangering national security for partisan political gain, about lying to duly appointed investigators, about obstructing the investigation.

What happened is that Scooter Libby lied under oath about who outed a covert CIA agent and got caught.

It's sort of astonishing the people who are rallying to the cause, and it's not only the blogosphere who are noticing. Found this via TPM. From a footnote in Judge Walton's ruling allowing the presentation of an amicus brief in support of Libby.

It is an impressive show of public service when twelve prominent and distinguished current and former law professors of well-respected schools 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 our 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.

The list of those involved in this brief is impressive, if you're into wingnut lawyers. Robert Bork is only the tip of the iceberg. I saw the list somewhere and can't remember where offhand, but it should be in the brief, linked to in the post (pdf). I do remember that the names I recognized were all frothing conservatives.

Sandy Levinson has a cogent comment on this. I'm not sure if it falls under the heading of "unfortunate precedents" or simply "hypocrisy."

I suspect that whole lot of people thought that Clinton was "guilty" of something that "most people would, or should [not], think of as criminal." At that time, of course, I remember being treated to lots of lectures about the necessity to uphold the "rule of law" even against the highest official in the land, come what may. These were not in fact silly lectures. I have concluded, from the perspective of almost a decade later, that an honorable man would have resigned the presidency rather than forced his supporters to engage in the kind of legal casuistry that we were exposed to.

It's interesting how principle dissolves when it gets down to particulars. (That is not a judgment, merely an observation.)