In March 8 articles on the speculation regarding whether President Bush will pardon I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who was convicted on March 6 of perjury, lying to the FBI, and obstructing justice, the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today all left out any mention of the Justice Department regulations setting out the process for petitions for clemency or Bush's recent suggestion that his policy on issuing pardons is rooted in those regulations. Assuming Bush does adhere to those rules, Libby would not be eligible to be considered for a pardon during the remainder of Bush's presidency.

During a January 31 interview on Fox News' Your World, host Neil Cavuto asked Bush if he would pardon “ex-Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean [who are] both serving time in jail for shooting a runaway Mexican drug dealer." In his reply, Bush repeatedly pointed to the pardon “process,” suggesting that he would allow a “series of steps” to be taken by the Justice Department “to make a recommendation as to whether or not a president grants a pardon.” Bush said that this “series of steps” is followed “so that the pardon process is, you know, a rational process”:

CAVUTO: Let me ask you, sir, about the ex-Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, both serving time in jail for shooting a runaway Mexican drug dealer. Would you pardon them?

[...]

BUSH: I'm saying, I would look at all the facts. And -- but there is a process in any case for a president to make a pardon decision. In other words, there is a series of steps that are followed, so that the pardon process is, you know, a rational process.

[...]

BUSH: Right. But what I'm trying to tell you is, is that it is -- there is a series of steps that are analyzed in order for the Justice Department to make a recommendation as to whether or not a president grants a pardon.

According to the Justice Department's "rules governing petitions for executive clemency," Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, would be subject to “a waiting period of at least five years after” he completes his prison sentence. Or, in the event that no prison sentence is imposed, Libby could not petition for a pardon “until the expiration of a period of at least five years after the date of the conviction.”

Therefore, as a March 7 Newsweek “Web-exclusive commentary” noted, the possibility of a pardon for Libby would be “a nonstarter” if Bush adheres to the Justice Department regulations. While observing that “there is nothing that requires Bush to follow these guidelines in reviewing a pardon for Libby,” Newsweek noted that “Bush seems to have followed those guidelines religiously” and that "[h]e's taken an exceedingly stingy approach to pardons." The article continued: “Following the furor over President Bill Clinton's last-minute pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich (among others), Bush made it clear he wasn't interested in granting many pardons.” The Newsweek article also pointed to Bush's comments during the January 31 interview with Cavuto.

Yet while the AP, the Times, the Post, and USA Today noted that Bush has granted a relatively low number of pardons throughout his presidency, none noted his reference to those regulations in the case of Ramos and Compean, nor that those rules would preclude a pardon of Libby during the rest of Bush's term in office.

From the January 31 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:

CAVUTO: Let me ask you, sir, about the ex-Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, both serving time in jail for shooting a runaway Mexican drug dealer. Would you pardon them?

BUSH: You know, I get asked about pardons on a lot of different cases, and there's a procedure in place. And what I told members of Congress who have written me or called was to just look at the case, look at the facts in the case.

And people need to understand why these folks were sent to trial and why a jury of their peers convicted them. And that's, of course, what a president does on any pardon request.

CAVUTO: So, what are you saying?

BUSH: I'm saying, I would look at all the facts. And -- but there is a process in any case for a president to make a pardon decision. In other words, there is a series of steps that are followed, so that the pardon process is, you know, a rational process.

CAVUTO: Well, they're in jail now. They're not going anywhere.

BUSH: Right. That's right.

CAVUTO: So --

BUSH: So --

CAVUTO: -- as things stand now, they'll stay in jail.

BUSH: As things stay now, they'll serve their sentence, right.

CAVUTO: Unless you interfere.

BUSH: Right. But what I'm trying to tell you is, is that it is -- there is a series of steps that are analyzed in order for the Justice Department to make a recommendation as to whether or not a president grants a pardon.

CAVUTO: And we're not at that yet.

BUSH: No, we're not at that stage yet.