from beachblogger.net
Judge Reggie Walton has postponed the beginning of the perjury/obstruction of justice trial for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the multi-monikered former chief of staff to Vice-President Dick Cheney, after the jury selection process failed to yield enough impartial jurors in order to start proceedings. Jury selection, which began Tuesday, was to have been completed by yesterday in order to commence with opening statements on Monday — but a dearth of impartial jurors has forced Walton to put off opening statements until Tuesday so more potential jurors may be reviewed.
As it turns out, finding impartial jurors has been complicated somewhat by the questions that are being posed to them (the uphill battle with this question: "Do you know Mr. Libby or have you heard anything about him?"). Despite the demographics of Congress, Democrats outnumber Republicans 9-1 in D.C., and plenty of them have answered "yes" to the question "Do you have any feelings or opinions about the Bush Administration or any of its policies or actions, whether positive or negative, that might affect your ability to give a former member of the Bush Administration a fair trial?" (Some have also elaborated as to what those feelings are, thankyouverymuch). Here's the best line from today's AP story on the subject:
As defense attorneys continued pressing would-be jurors about their views, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said, "The jury will not be asked to render a verdict on the war or what they think of the war."
Not interested in anyone's opinion of the war? Wow, that does sound like Washington.
Related:
Marty Kaplan: We, The Libby Jury [HuffPo]
