Bush Clemency of Libby Cited by Attorney Asking Supreme Court to Rehear Parallel Case

Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports: A public defender in North Carolina, relying on President Bush's clemency ruling in the CIA leak case, urged the Supreme Court on Monday to reconsider its June 21 ruling upholding the 33-month prison sentence of Victor A. Rita, Jr. (Rita v. U.S., docket 06-5754). Going even further, Assistant Federal Public Defender Thomas N. Cochran of Greensboro urged the Court to reconsider its 2005 decisiion in U.S. v. Booker that salvaged the federal Sentencing Guidelines.by making them advisory, not mandatory. The Booker ruling, the petition argued, has fostered "disparate treatment" under the Guidelines. (The text of the petition, with attachments, can be found here.) The President's explanation for nullifying the 30-month prison sentence of former vice presidential aide I. Lewis Libby in the leak case, the new filing argued, "directly conflicts with the federal sentencing policy espoused by the Administration and argued vehemently, indeed successfully, by the Executive's own Solicitor General in this case."