Andrew Sullivan has been flacking this quote.
"I don't believe my role is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own," - George W. Bush on why he signed death warrants for 152 inmates as governor of Texas.The quote is from his own book, "A Charge To Keep." I think that's a debate-ender, isn't it?
The only thing is that there are two problems with the way Sullivan is using it.
1) In issuing a commutation, Bush did not substitute his judgment for that of the jury. The conviction remains intact, only the sentence (handed down by a judge, not a jury as in a death penalty case in Texas) is modified. Besides, a number of the jurors even called for a presidential pardon of Scooter Libby on the same day that they convicted him.
2) The governor of Texas doesn't have the power to pardon or grant a commutation any criminal without an affirmative recommendation fo the state's Board of pardons and Parole. This has been the case in Texas since the current constitution was adopted in 1876. Any attempt to stop the executions would therefore have been an impeachable offense -- and I believe that Texas law allows for the executions to proceed even without the signature of the governor.
So if you consider the pathetically inept analysis put forward by Andrew Sullivan, aside from the fact that the mechanisms by which the sentences were issued are completely different and the fact that the powers of the President and the Governor of Texas are completely different, the situations are exactly the same!
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An excellent point. I commented on your comment on my site. Give it a look. I did not take that into account when writing my article but you can read what I said there.
Here I will concentrate on your analysis.
I agree that when I read Sullivan's statement I found it a bit odd since it had already been all over the news that unlike a pardon with a commuted sentence the conviction stays intact so Bush has not replaced the verdict, which remains. So debate-ender? Not quite.
Jonathan
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