January 26, 2009 [LINK / comment]

Bush's final pardons

What a contrast to Bill Clinton pardoning Marc Rich and dozens of other sleazebags in his final hours as U.S. President in January 2001! Outgoing President George W. Bush only granted clemency to two people on his last day in office, as noted in the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog:

Bush commuted the sentences of Jose A. Compean and Ignacio Ramos, two former Border Patrol agents imprisoned for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler.

The commutations for Compean and Ramos bring Bush's total number of pardons and commutations to 200, the fewest of any two-term president in modern times.

Those two guys were heroes, and deserved the pardon. Don't forget the invasions of January 2005, which is what prompted the movement to build a fence along the border.

Do-over oath of office

Just to make sure all the legal bases were covered, President Obama took the oath of office for a second time after it was garbled on January 20. This time, however, he did the swearing-in without using a Bible. Hmmmm.... Justin Webb comments on that at BBC.