A Season for Giving

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

With the end of the tax year approaching, this is the season for many of our readers to write checks to worthy causes, whether they are organizations devoted to policy, education, culture, or religion – or other good works. This year readers of these columns may wish to include the Libby Legal Defense Trust. It has been established by a distinguished, bipartisan group – including the former presidential candidate Malcolm S. “Steve” Forbes Jr.; a one-time director of central intelligence, James Woolsey; an ex-ambassador at the United Nations, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and the Princeton historian of the Middle East, Bernard Lewis – to help pay for the legal expenses of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.


The former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney is the target of a witch hunt by a special counsel who was set up to investigate whether any laws were violated on the way to a Robert Novak column in which Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was identified as a CIA employee. By our lights, the government ought to cover Mr. Libby’s legal defense expenses. After all, he is being prosecuted for carrying out his official duties, defending the president’s agenda on the war in Iraq against an effort to undermine it by the president’s political and ideological rivals. There is no suggestion whatsoever by the prosecutor that Mr. Libby sought to use his political office for private gain.


Under the independent counsel act, a subject of an independent counsel investigation who is not indicted may be reimbursed for “reasonable attorney’s fees.” But Patrick Fitzgerald, the prosecutor in the Libby-Plame case, is technically not an independent counsel like, say Kenneth Starr of Monica Lewinsky fame or Judge Walsh of Iran-Contra fame. He’s a “special” counsel. So the law doesn’t apply. Under an amendment authored by Rep. Henry Hyde, a judge in a federal criminal case may award legal fees in an instance where “the position of the United States was vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith.” Some may find this case frivolous – we certainly do – but awards of legal fees under the Hyde Amendment have been exceedingly rare.


So that leaves Mr. Libby with the burden of his own legal bills, and there are plenty of reasons to give. One could be a neoconservative who believes that the Iraq war spread freedom. One could be a defender of the freedom of the press who believes that government officials in America should be free to talk to the press without fear of being thrown in prison by a prosecutor. One could be a Clinton loyalist who remembers how special prosecutors were used against the previous administration. One could be a believer in a strong presidency who thinks the whole idea of criminalizing policy differences has a tendency to sap the boldness of the president.


Finally, one could just be a believer in the underdog and want Mr. Libby to have a fair fight against the special prosecutor. Donations to the legal defense trust are not tax-deductible. There are no limits on the amount that can be donated, though gifts of more than $11,000 may have gift tax implications for the donor. There are plenty of worthy causes competing for the attention of donors at this time of year, and our readers can make their own decisions. But those compiling their December gift lists may want to keep the Libby Legal Defense Trust in mind.


HOW TO GIVE

Libby Legal Defense Trust
2100 M Street, N.W.
Suite 170-362
Washington, D.C. 20037-1233

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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