Republican Rule of Law: Law will not be enforced on the Rich.

Under the Republican Party, there is one law for everyone except the Rich. The Rich, however, need not fear any prosecution. This from McClatchy today:

Justice Dept. drops massive fraud case

Marisa Taylor | McClatchy Newspapers last updated: July 23, 2007 07:58:46 AM

WASHINGTON — Two years into a fraud investigation, veteran federal prosecutor David Maguire told colleagues he'd uncovered one of the biggest cases of his career.

Maguire described crimes "far worse" than those of Arthur Andersen, the accounting giant that collapsed in the wake of the Enron scandal. Among those in his sights: executives from a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment empire overseen by billionaire Warren Buffett.

In May 2006, he felt strongly enough about his case that he prepared a draft indictment accusing executives from a Virginia insurer, Reciprocal of America, of concocting a series of secret deals to hide its losses from regulators. Although he didn't name anyone from Berkshire Hathaway's subsidiary, he described the company as a participant in the scheme.

But Maguire never brought those charges.

Months after preparing the draft, he was removed as the lead prosecutor on the case and reassigned.

His replacement, a prosecutor who hadn't been involved in the case until then, soon announced that the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, General Reinsurance, wouldn't be indicted. By April of this year, the entire investigation, which the Justice Department once hailed as one of the largest insurance-fraud cases in the history of Virginia, had fizzled.

Under the Republican regime, the wealthy not only get to skip paying taxes the way the rest of us have to pay, they can even run fraudulent businesses, collect the money, and walk away free and clear with no fear of prosecution. That's what just happened here.

Libby's sentence for obstruction of justice historically on the very low side.

As justification for canceling "Scooter" Libby's sentence of 30 months in prison Bush described it as "excessive." Really? Excessive compared to what?

Richard B. Schmitt and David G. Savage went back to the records and looked at recent sentences for obstruction of Justice, and here's what they found:

records show that the Justice Department under the Bush administration frequently has sought sentences that are as long, or longer, in cases similar to Libby's. Three-fourths of the 198 defendants sentenced in federal court last year for obstruction of justice — one of four crimes Libby was found guilty of in March — got some prison time. According to federal data, the average sentence defendants received for that charge alone was 70 months.

Just last week, the Supreme Court upheld a 33-month prison sentence for a decorated Army veteran who was convicted of lying to a federal agent about buying a machine gun. The veteran had a record of public service — fighting in Vietnam and the Gulf War — and no criminal record. But Justice Department lawyers argued his prison term should stand because it fit within the federal sentencing guidelines.

As long as George Bush is President we will have one system of "Justice" for Bush's friends and another for the rest of us.