Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Should Libby go to prison? Fitz thinks so.



Here is Fitzgerald's filing.

I had submitted an article to Waterflake on today's filing by Fitz. I will be posted it as as she posts it on Newsinkling.org.

What is interesting is the argument of the validity of the Special Counsel’s exercise of authority by the defense team. Fitzgerald references his argument on the Morrison v. Olsen case. Morrison v. Olsen was a case that went before the Supreme Court. By a 7 to 1 margin, the Court ruled that the Independent Counsel Act was constitutional. Olson, a Constitutional lawyer, attempted to argue that the independent counsel took executive powers away from the office of the President and created a hybrid "fourth branch" of government that was ultimately answerable to no one. He had argued that the broad powers of the independent counsel could be easily abused, or corrupted by partisanship. Fitzgerald argues that the “defendant does not argue that under the Morrison decision the appointment of the Special Counsel was unconstitutional.” On page 9, Fitzgerald says:

Defendant presses this argument despite the fact that in Edmond, a case that did not involve a special prosecutor, the Supreme Court did not overrule Morrison, disavow it, or even suggest that Morrison was no longer good law or that the outcome in Morrison would have been different under Edmond’s formulation of what constitutes an inferior officer. Nevertheless, defendant contends that this issue is “a close one” and that the D.C. Circuit “could easily reach the opposite conclusion from this Court.” Def. Mot. at 5.

More on Fitzgerald's filing will be posted. The defense team is simply riding a dead horse in their appeal and simply using the stall tactic for Libby to stay out of jail.

3 comments:

airJackie said...

Fitz said it best with the fact that Wells didn't question Rove/Cheney/Libby to clear up the points he made to the jurors. Now it's time to show if the courts work under the law. The thought that a person can be convicted of a crime but because he's a loyal Bushie and lied for the Vice President shouldn't matter.
The Fitz team did the job and did it well now we'll see if our Justice System works. If the courts allows Libby to stay out of jail or if Bush pardons him then let all the other Republicans out of jail too. Let Ken Lay come back from the island he's on.
If we have no Justice System in the United States then we are in real trouble with lawlessness.

KittyBowTie1 said...

Inquiring Kitty wants to know:

When did these people start crying about anything being unconstitutional? Before the trial started or after Libby lost? If it was after Libby lost, then they need to shut up and stop wasting everyone's time.

I just caught the post about Serbia and Kostunica. The Gerbil's rhetoric about Kosovo was really meant to get under the skin of the Russians. The people of Kosovo already suffered enough. They do not need to be a political punching bag between the U.S. and the Russians and their buddies the Serbs.

So do we know if Turkey got a pay off for standing down and not rolling in troops against the Kurds?

SP Biloxi said...

"When did these people start crying about anything being unconstitutional? Before the trial started or after Libby lost?"

LMAO!

"If it was after Libby lost, then they need to shut up and stop wasting everyone's time."

Amen, kittybowtie! Best statement of the day!!! Cheers!