Star-Tribune Editorial Board

Freedom, Kris Kristofferson wrote, is "just another word for nothin' left to lose."

By giving I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby his freedom, President Bush made it clear he has given up trying to redeem his own reputation. Criticized for the Iraq war, battered by low approval ratings and beaten up daily over a host of domestic issues, Bush is a president with little left to lose.

So a commuted sentence for Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, was not surprising. Nor is the fact that Bush announced it through a press release, rather than directly explaining his controversial decision to Americans.

The timing, however, was unorthodox. Presidents routinely grant pardons and commutations at the ends of their final terms, in part to limit public attention.

Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five other former Reagan administration officials just weeks before he left office. The pardons effectively ended a six-year arms-for-hostages investigation.

In the final hours of his presidency, Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, a financier who had fled the United States in 1983 after being charged with tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran. Rich's ex-wife had contributed to Clinton's campaigns and library fund, and political foes charged Rich's pardon had been bought. But Clinton was out the door, and media attention quickly turned to George W. Bush's inauguration.

Bush has 18 months left in office, leaving much time for his rescue of Libby to be dissected with disdain. And it will be.

Bush acted hours after a court said Libby had to go to prison while he was appealing his 30-month sentence for obstructing justice, perjury and making false statements to investigators. But almost all commutations are made after an inmate has been in prison, and not until the appeals process is complete. Libby didn't serve a minute of his sentence, and his appeal was just beginning.

By commuting Libby's sentence and holding out the possibility of a full pardon, Bush now faces intense scrutiny from Congress and the public. Libby's convictions related to the federal probe about who in Bush's administration leaked the name of a covert CIA spy to the media.

Bush hasn't shown much mercy to other criminals. He has pardoned 113, the least of any president in the past century. He has also denied more than 4,000 commutation requests.

The president will take his lumps for his action, which violated Justice Department guidelines. Yet calls to change the system and take away a president's power to grant amnesty, pardons and commutations are way off the mark.

Authors of the Constitution deliberately gave such powers to the president, and not to Congress. Alexander Hamilton wrote, "One man appears to be a more eligible dispenser of the mercy of the government than a body of men."

The pardon process gives the president one last chance to correct mistakes made by the courts or the legislative branch. Thomas Jefferson pardoned all those convicted of violating the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were later found unconstitutional. Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson both proclaimed amnesty for Confederate soldiers. Jimmy Carter granted amnesty to Vietnam draft resisters. Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. All were efforts to heal the nation after difficult times.

Our founders were wise to give the president a chance to show mercy. Yes, the power to pardon can be abused. When it is, the Constitution affords no way to reverse the abuse. But the public can make its opinions known.

There is no reason to take away the power from all presidents simply because some have misused it. Some may call it a necessary evil. But it can, and has, been used for good reasons.