House hearing planned to examine Bush commutation

Today’s Washington Post has this effective overview of all the latest Scooter news, including these details about a House hearing now in the works:  “House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (Mich.) announced a hearing for next week to explore what he called “‘the presidential authority to grant clemency and how such power may be abused.'”

TalkLeft, which has lots and lots of Libby commentary, links to this source reporting that the hearing will be held next Wednesday, July 11, at 10:15am and will be entitled “The Use and Misuse of Presidential Clemency Power for Executive Branch Officials.”  Below I have highlighted some prior Libby discussion for any staffers looking for ideas while prepping for the hearing:

• Bush’s reasons for Libby’s commutation … will others now see similar compassion from Bush and his Justice Department?
• Early reactions to President Bush’s commutation of Libby’s prison sentence
• What President Bush’s commutation of Libby says: “I’m the sentencer … for my pal”
• If any prison time for Libby is excessive and inappropriate, what about…
• More reactions to Bush’s commutation of Libby
• Senator Biden picking up Scooter Libby and Victor Rita parallels
• Reflections on “Bush the merciful”
• Legal complications following Bush’s commutation
• Collateral litigation consequences of a commutation

UPDATE:  Edward Lazarus has this new essay at FindLaw talking through most of the strongest talking points against the President’s commutation work.