Yesterday I objected to the suggestion in a Washington Times editorial that federal sentencing guidelines call for Scooter Libby to serve 15 months in jail. The guidelines just aren’t that straightforward. Rich Lowry makes a similar error in suggesting that the 30 month sentence that Judge Walton imposed wasn’t “technically” excessive, and therefore “[t]he administration’s middle ground can’t hold.” Andy McCarthy, who (as a former federal prosecutor) knows a whole lot more about the sentencing guidelines than I do, responds to Rich by explaining the technicalities, and defending the commutation.
