I beg your…

“Extraordinary.” — former Justice Department Attorney
“Quite remarkable.” — (I’m lost as to whether this would be an offense or defense) attorney

This story just gets better and better as it unfolds:

Pardon Lasts Just One Day for Developer in Fraud Case

Administration officials and experts in pardon law said they were not aware of a prior instance of a president’s withdrawing a pardon after it was announced. “This is extraordinary,” said Margaret Colgate Love, who served as pardon attorney at the Justice Department in the 1990s.

The Justice Department official maintained that Mr. Toussie would have no grounds to argue that the president could not take back a pardon….

The Toussie episode comes as more lawyers appear to be going directly to the White House for consideration of pardons, rather than through Justice Department channels, according to people involved in the process. The most notorious recent instance came in 2001, when President Bill Clinton pardoned the fugitive financier Marc Rich, even though the Justice Department had not offered a formal recommendation.

Which, of course, preceded the other pardon Bill had to ask for.


It’s heart-warming to know that even partisanship can be trumped by special interests.