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Tim Grieve, Salon, July 3, 2007

The Department of Justice maintains published standards for clemency orders like the one George W. Bush gave Scooter Libby Monday.

Under those standards, a request for commutation is supposed to go the Department of Justice’s “pardon attorney,” who “initiates and directs the necessary investigations and prepares a report and recommendation for submission to the president in every case.” As part of those “necessary investigations,” the pardon attorney “routinely requests the United States Attorney in the district of conviction to provide comments and recommendations” on the case. As the DOJ standards explain, “The views of the United States Attorney are given considerable weight in determining what recommendations the department should make to the president.”

The standards also state that that the pardon attorney “routinely requests the United States Attorney to solicit the views and recommendation of the sentencing judge.”

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