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What to make of last-minute Bush clemencies?

Quite a few of my favorite blogs are producing good commentary about President Bush's last-minute pardons of two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting an unarmed drug smuggler in the back near the Mexican border in Texas' western federal district. See commentary from Jacob Sullum at Reason Hit and Run, Doc Berman at Sentencing Law & Policy, Paul Burka from Texas Monthly, Jeralyn at Talk Left, and P.S. Ruckman at Pardon Power.In the comments over at Paul Burka's shop, I offered my own view on the sentence commutations:1) The BP agents committed a crime, covered it up, and deserved to be punished. 2) Their sentences were too long because of federal mandatory minimums sweepingly applied in an utterly undiscriminating fashion. 3) Therefore the commutations were justified based on the specifics of the cases, but 4) There are many, many thousands of similarly situated offenders who also received excessive, unfair prison terms under federal sentencing guidelines, so 5) It?s hypocritical to pick out two defendants whose commutations pander to Lou Dobbs and the right wing base while not applying the same principles of justice to others who are subject to indefensibly long mandatory minimums...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on January 22, 2009 (boomark / email).