POLITICS OF PARDONS

Bush Mostly On Track But Errs On Border Agents

One of the more controversial things an outgoing president can do is to
hand out pardons and commutations like party favors. To his credit,
President George W. Bush generally demonstrated restraint and wise
judgment on this issue during his final days in office.

Contrast this with Bill Clinton's pardon of tax evader Marc Rich, whose
ex-wife contributed to the president's library foundation. Or the acts of
other presidents who have used the power to settle their own political
debts.

We're pleased that Bush didn't follow suit in considering several
high-profile cases. For instance, consider that of former White House aide
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was convicted of lying to investigators about
the leak of a CIA agent's identity. Bush had already commuted Libby's
sentence but did not upgrade it to a pardon. However, this newspaper does
not agree with Bush's decision to commute the sentences of former border
agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who, respectively, were serving 11-
and 12-year federal prison terms for shooting a Mexican drug dealer. This
was a despicable crime: The two officers had no idea the unarmed man was
trafficking in drugs when they shot him in the back side as he ran for the
border near El Paso. They then took extraordinary steps to cover up the
shooting with a false report.

Their actions are an affront to Border Patrol agents who perform a
difficult and thankless job, and the pair's sentences were upheld last
year by a federal appeals court.

It's regrettable that Bush shortened their jail time but significant that
he found middle ground and didn't grant them pardons. Their convictions
will remain on the record.

Perhaps the commutation will end the undeserved celebrity status that had
erupted around these two former agents. Anti-immigration organizations
have used them as poster boys to perpetuate a myth that they were in
prison for doing their jobs while drug smugglers were allowed to go free.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Ramos and Compean committed
felonies and were rightly brought to justice. Perhaps now the Obama
administration can have a comprehensive immigration discussion without
this distraction clouding the conversation.