Legal complications following Bush’s commutation
I have been wondering about President Bush’s statement that Libby would still serve “two years of probation” given that he was actually technically sentenced to two years of “supervised release.” This is important in part because “supervised release” is only a legal possibility under federal law after a term of imprisonment.
Fortunately, Judge Walton is all over these intricate legal issues. Today he issued a two-page order explaining his concerns about how one can have a “term of supervised release after imprisonment” per 18 USC 3583 now that the President has erased the imposed term of imprisonment. The order, which can be downloaded below, calls for briefing on this issue from the parties by July 9.
UPDATE: Lyle Denniston discusses this issue here at SCOTUSblog.