Scooter Libby Disbarred

WASHINGTON — Former top White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was banned Thursday from practicing law in the nation's capital following his perjury conviction in the case of a CIA operative's leaked identity. The disbarment order of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals had been expected.

"When a member of the bar is convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, disbarment is mandatory," the appeals court ruled.

Last May, a court panel that oversees lawyer ethics recommended that Libby be stripped of his law license in Washington. The Board on Professional Responsibility then found that Libby's conviction for lying to the FBI about the case of former CIA operative Valerie Plame amounted to "crimes that involve moral turpitude."

"This action is required by the rules following a conviction regardless of the merits of the case, and for that reason Mr. Libby expected and did not oppose the court's order," said Libby attorney William Jeffress.

Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was first licensed to work as a lawyer in Washington in 1978. His membership with the D.C. bar also was suspended for failing to pay his dues, records show.

Thursday's appeals court ruling also noted that "neither bar counsel nor respondent has taken exception to the board's report and recommendation."

Libby was the only person to face criminal charges in the case of the 2003 leak of Plame's identity. Plame has since left the CIA and contends the White House was trying to discredit her husband, a critic of President Bush's Iraq policy.

Last July, Bush commuted Libby's 2 1/2-year sentence, sparing him from serving any prison time after being convicted of perjury and obstructing justice. Libby dropped appeals to have his convictions overturned. He has paid a $250,000 fine and remains on two years probation.

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On the Net:

The disbarment order can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/2rhu9q

(This version CORRECTS name of court to District of Columbia Court of Appeals)

Comments

[eugenegerard]

This piece of waste should be behind bars.

[realitytrumpsbull]

And GOOD RIDDANCE!

Bert08

[NotBeatenYet]

...gives him some time off to work on his lisp...

[Boboday555]

'Scooter' Libby; Sacrificing his honor to protect an administration that never had any honor to begin with.

[wordvarc]

He took the fall. Maybe Cheesy will get him a job as counsel at KBR.

[Moshe]

Do you think that the American People will ever get so tired of the vile and spreading corruption in Washington that they actually do something about it?

Or are we instead the "frog in the boiling pot" barely noticing that the gradually heating pot is incrementally tranforming from comfortable to deadly as we do nothing?

We will largely share a common fate in our Nation, rising or sinking together.

I am gravely concerned about our future, and trying to do something about it.

Are you?

[friscosf]

Actually, many people are voting for Hillary Clinton

Bill Clinton was also disbarred
He committed perjury

The corruption has been going on for AT LEAST 15 years
We Democrats blindly supported the Clintons in their corrupt dealings

It's not hard to see why Republicans are OK with Scooter Libby, when Democratis were OK with Monica Lewinsky, Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones..... ad nauseum

Bill Clinton was actually accused of RAPE by Juanita Broddrick and Kathleen Willey
But, that seems OK with the media and many in the Democratic party

The corruption has matastesized

[NicoleAnonymous]

I think that there are really much more important things for us to worry about then men having sex with women who aren't his wife - putting the safety of a CIA agent at risk is a little more serious.

And nobody has proof that those women were raped by him. If Clinton invites you back to his room with him and you agree to go then you had better accept the fact that he doesn't want you there to talk about the conflict in the middle east or what you think about Iran - you're there for sex and you know that when you agree to go with him. You have a choice - go with him or leave. But don't go there and then say you're "shocked" that he expected sex from you. I think women need to stop doing that or nobody will take us seriously when we really are attacked.

[speakingtruth2power]

More but but but Clinton? These administrations are not comparable.

The Clintons may be rethug-lite but they did not go so far as treason

and war crimes. Bush is dragging US into fascism and you say this?

Please get some perspective here! Read more varied material, frisco.

[mystic]

In response to the comment in the reply "..the Clintons did not drag us into treason and war crimes", there is a nuanced disagreement. Bill Clinton has gone over to the dark side. When he promised that if Hillary gets the presidency, he and Bush's father --you know, the one who claims he was not in Dallas when JFK was assassinated --would travel to foreign countries together to restore honor to America -- that implies that he would not seek to impeach the son, thus allowing any vestige of accountability to be ignored and clearing the way for yet more crimes to come with future presidencies. Of all people, he should know that the word "impeachment" is merely a warranted investigation. He also rudely said "How dare you" to someone who asked if there should be investigations into 9/11. Bill Clinton wants no investigations of anything. He therefore approves of treason and war crimes. End of story.

[Liberal2]

Always a liar around when we need one for comic relief.

Lewinsky and Flowers were, basically, "volunteers." Jones was a liar. Her case was thrown out of court; Clinton's "perjury" was a statement demanded by Jones' Richard Mellon Scaife-paid lawyers (her two previous sets of lawyers resigned from her case and indicated there were "problems" with her story) to avoid an appeal which would have cost Clinton over a million dollars in legal fees he didn't have. Kathleen Willey created the story of Clinton gropping her to sell as a story for $300,000. Willey later made up a story that her boyfriend has impregnanted her and she had had a miscarriage. There was no evidence of Broddrick's claim, her "friend" who said she witnessed the bruises on her face was a woman who hated Clinton for pardoning, as governor, the man who killed her father. Very convenient.

Oh, BTW, Kitty Kelly wrote a biography of Reagan. She wrote of an interview of a woman named Selene Waters who claimed Reagan had raped *HER*.

Obviously rethug corruption is fine with you.

[wordvarc]

Moshe, it's pure and simple greed through cronies. There's no difference between w and the worst leaders of the past centuries. w is more easily compared to the axis of evil leaders of the last century and those he claims to be his current enemies than his wishful hope to be compared to Lincoln.

[NicoleAnonymous]

But the most important question is this:

Please tell me WHY any parent would name their child Scooter? Did they think it would look distinguished on his business cards?

My advice for parents - please give your children appropriate names instead of indulging your own narcissism by trying to be "quirky" and "different" because they're not pets. And also please don't give your daughter the name "Ashley" unless you want your daughter to be some untalented celebrity with really bad taste in clothes or a highly paid escort and I doubt we are ever going to have a female president with that name and most respected businesswomen don't have that name.

[SatinPanties]

His name is something like Irving, "Scooter" is his nickname.

[MsLiz]

His father was Irving, he is I. Lewis Libby.

[NicoleAnonymous]

Of course there is always the possiblity that is his nickname and not his real name. Another response making me seem as though I'm stupid...I'll go crawl back under my rock now...

[friscosf]

I think they named him Isadore Libby
Scooter was a nickname

Another crooked insider
Washington is crawling with them

[lenoirlady]

OH Hell fire!!! You are kidding!! Please say you are.

[ginnypoo]

If what Libby's lyng got him disbarred.....why doesn't Obama's lies disqualify him to be President. This is all becoming stupid. Obama should quit the race NOW!!!!!!!!!

[roald]

Show me a politician who has not been caught lying. Scooter was disbarred for lying under oath. What is so amazing is that the investigation into outing a CIA agent was stonewalled (a very Nixon term) to the point he was the only person "brought to justice". And he was pardoned.

[lenoirlady]

Never gonna' happen, ginnypoo! He's the man!! He's no liar!! He's the genuine article!! Better get very use to it!!

[jimmyaj]

How about Bush's lies? Even if they got him to swear an oath, he'd have to take the fifth to avoid incriminating himself and many, many others.

[Liberal2]

No, he wouldn't take the fifth....drink it? Yeah, that he would.

[madron]

If lying disqualifies someone ,,,The the repuks would have no body left.....

[MsLiz]

The voters will decide who is qualified.

[Beckyjo]

Poor Scooter! Too bad he can't be a lawyer any more, but he can always be a lobbyist. They lie all the time and he is good at that.

[SouthernYankeeBelle]

Don't worry about poor little O' Scooter the idot in chief will pardon him before he leaves office. All will be well and he will be a lawyer again. Yeah, lets hear more about what Clinton did and his pardons. The right will always make excuses for the ills of the right.

[YRM]

Did you know that the same guy who prosecuted the Valerie Plame case is the U.S. attorney in the Chicago trial of former Obama benefactor Tony Rezko? In the first case, a much anticipated indictment against Karl Rove for leaking Plame's identity never materialized. In the Rezko case, we have two public officials, the Illinois governor and Obama, who were the primary recipients of Rezko campaign contributions, yet neither has been charged with any wrongdoing. (Rezko is charged with extortion and influence peddling.) Since Karl Rove and the neocons have been active in manipulating the Democratic primaries, this connection is certainly worth noting. Is Fitzgerald waiting for Obama to win the nomination before he springs an indictment? No one knows, except maybe Bush Administration. For morre on this subejct, see the article I've posted at thecityedition.com. Here's a direct.

http://www.thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/Winter08/2008Election.html

[MsLiz]

Fitzgerald is highly respected. There is nothing to indict Obama for. I hope Obama promotes Fitzgerald.
I did not click on your link. You gave me enough of a sample to inform me of it's worth.

[HDR]

I'm sure he could still practice law in Wyoming or Texas.

[txfriend]

Really, how is that? Be specific on what allows a disbarred lawyer to practice in Texas.

[HDR]

It was a reference to the home states of Cheney and Bush. But if you want to play it literal:

The idea that a slug of a man and a lawyer like Alberto Gonzales will be rewarded for his clearly illegal, if not convicted, actions as AG for the same administration that Scooter worked for, will be rewarded with a lucrative position, if only as a bobblehead, for any one of many law firms in Houston alone!

I'll try to dummy it down for ya next time. Oh, and before you ASSume that I have a bias against Texas based on ignorance, I am a 45 yr resident of Houston and my bias is based on experience.

[mellene]

Such a little price to pay for treason in America. Just goes to show if you have rich and powerful Republican friends you, too, can go scot free.

[LaurieLee]

How many times have Douglas Feith or Richard Perle been implicated in passing along classified information to foreign agents? It's amazing the Franklin is in any trouble at all.

[friscosf]

True...

But, I think contributing to the Clintons gets you a pardon
Marc Rich got one
and there was theat convicted drug dealer
I think Roger Clinton got a few pardons for his 'business partners'



Why not vote for Obama and put an end to this corruption ?

[roald]

Most Presidents and governors have pardoned people in their last days in office.

[texanna]

friscosf, what exactly does your comment have to do with Scooter Libby's disbarrment? It's comments like yours that will ultimately cause the Democrats problems with bringing the Party together to get a Democratic President. If your candidate wins, you do nothing but cause hard feelings from Sen. Clinton's supporters. If Sen. Clinton wins, I don't see how you can reconcile yourself to support her in view of the comment you posted.

[Davwbaird]

Big deal, the turkey should be in Siberia being tortured.

[poshman]

Hopefully this will be the beginning of a GOP slaughter regarding these monstrous neo cons who have destroyed the world. But don't count on the Democrats to do anything to bring this slime to justice. They're just as bad!

[friscosf]

Certainly the Clintons are just as bad as thte Republicans
They're just as corrupt and just as lawless

Don't expect anything to change if they're elected
(an impossibility? )

The American people get the government the want
In the long run, they get the government they deserve

Better learn to speak Chinese

[lenoirlady]

Your last line is a chilling thought>>>

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Dis-BRA the little prevert twerp too.

[desmirl]

It's not a lot of justice, but I'll settle for anything we can get.