Posted on 06/07/2007 12:03:03 PM PDT by freedomdefender
Years ago, when he was a local trial judge, Reggie B. Walton developed a reputation for his sentencing of ordinary street thugs. ...
That Walton would put the Bush administration in an uncomfortable position of having to consider a politically charged pardon for Libby is highly ironic: The 58-year-old jurist was one of the first appointments that Bush made to the federal bench in October 2001, a prime example of a new law-and-order mentality that the administration wanted to infuse in the courts.
... The Washington Post reported an incident two years ago in which Walton, driving his family in downtown Washington to the airport for a vacation, noticed a cabdriver being attacked. The 5-foot-9 judge, who played football at West Virginia State University, stopped his vehicle, wrestled the attacker to the ground and held him in check until police arrived.
"He started toward me," Walton told the Washington Post. "I had to take him down."
Despite Walton's history as a "long ball hitter" when it comes to sending criminals to jail, lawyers and legal experts said the punishment he imposed on Libby was within his discretion under the law.
The 2 1/2 year sentence was within the range of guidelines that the Bush administration has created and espoused for federal judges to follow to ensure that defendants are punished the same regardless of the judge hearing their case. The administration and Republican members of Congress have admonished other judges who give defendants a break under the guidelines — as lawyers for Libby sought Tuesday when they asked Walton to give him probation only.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Its suppose to be the law, not he man.
Aren’t we a nation of laws and not men?
How can we square this away with Sandy Burger?
Sandy Burglar musta got a clintoonian judge.
If you read the article more closely, you’ll see that Bush appointed the judge to the bench years ago, and not appointed him to hear the Libby case, as the headline suggests.
Barbrastreisand!
I was commenting on the bigger picture of the law, not the person.
You lost me at, “How can we square this away with Sandy B[e]rger?” No matter, I’m sure we agree that the bench needs more law & order types.
Similarly, James Comey (D) got the job due to his reputation as “tough on crime” (Martha Stewart etc.) and recommendation by Chuck Schumer (D-NY). That worked well, but the real fault is with WH and DoJ political and “professional” staffers who are supposed to vet the nominees.
“Kinder and gentler” “new tone” is once again biting Bush family (and, more importantly, his loyal supporters and subordinates as well as GOP en large) in the behind, yet I am not even sure they realize it.
You know I was thinking. What are some of this judge’s other rulings? It’s other than this he’s a hardline conservative who votes with Scalia and Thomas on everything, this Libby case could prove beneficial if in a few months there’s a supreme court opening.
Bush could appoint this guy to fill a Supreme slot. The dems couldn’t really make much of a case against a minority judge who gave a republican a harsh sentance.
This is assuming of course, that this guy is a stirct conservative.
“Tough guy” doesn’t necessarily mean “Smart guy.”
SCOTUS doesn’t really lend itself well to “law and order” “tough on crime” decisions, it’s not the kind of cases it usually deals with.
Walton is a DC judge, who made enough mistakes and errors in judgment in this trial to drive a truck through on appeal, especially combined with his sentencing in this case.
Bush must be right.............after all, 20 plus million Mexicans will vote for him.
But I won’t.
I like tough judges as long as they are even handed. My question is how would this guy rule if Libby were a Dem. Of course, the real problem was not the judge, but the jury. You’ve gotta expect this from an all-Dem jury. Try political crimes like this somewhere else other than DC. Georgia, or Illinois, or Montana.
Yeah, but this guy sentenced a guy that didn’t do anything wrong.
Easy - we need more judges like this, and fewer deals letting crooks like Sandy Burglar off the hook.
That the Justice Department went soft with Sandy doesn't mean that prosecutors and judges have to get weak-kneed in every case.
Because he’s going to run agian in 2008?
Right...
Who cares, Libby should go away for being a dumb@ss. He should have just straight up said who cares, this cia operative wanna-be isn’t one, and therefore none of the lefty drama matters.
Instead he had to obfuscate, tap-dance, and try to bs people that really know how to bs others. Good bye.
Now Sandy Burgler is an entirely different matter. He should be hung for treason, then tried for concealing evidence in his fat rolls.
You know, an interesting thought occurred to me today while listening to the G-Man discuss the Libby trial.
Judge Walton is pushing to deny bail to Libby, and have Scooter begin his jail time before his appeal can be heard. The discussion was whether this will 'force' Bush's hand in pardoning Scooter.
I'm thinking that Walton is hoping that Bush does issue a pardon to Libby before the DC Circuit Court has a chance to tear his entire handling of this case to shreds.
If Libby is pardoned, then any appeal becomes moot, and Walton saves face.
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