Yesterday's pardon - and yes, it was for all practical intents and purposes exactly that - of Scooter Libby by George Bush is a clear and flagrant abuse of power, intended to thwart an ongoing investigation and to undermine the proper administration of justice.

That is Nixon territory. Hence, George Bush must be impeached by the U.S. House and brought to trial in the Senate.

The New York Times lays out the case here:

Presidents have the power to grant clemency and pardons. But in this case, Mr. Bush did not sound like a leader making tough decisions about justice. He sounded like a man worried about what a former loyalist might say when actually staring into a prison cell.

The literature on the Presidential power of pardon is extensive, and it is clear: this power exists as a means to temper justice with mercy.

It is not intended to save Presidents from undue scrutiny, nor to shut up loyal retainers under investigation for acts committed in the service of the White House. This, however, is the effect of this pardon; not to put too fine a point on it, Bush issued it on the same day that a Federal court informed Scooter Libby that he would have to wait out his current appeal in jail.

That's what raises this from a question of Presidential privilege to an abuse of power: clemency is a last resort of mercy when all other options have been exhausted. George Bush's pardon interfered with the ongoing administration of justice in a case in which he, and his Vice President, have cause to be interested. If we are going to be a nation of laws, we can't tolerate that. And since there is no corrective, no check or balance, to the quasi-monarchical power of pardon, the only means of redress left to the people and their elected representatives is that of impeachment.