6
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2005
Bush looks to do damage control
Libby resignation
muddies image
BY JOHN WULSIN
STAFF WRITER
The resignation Friday of a
senior White House official has left
the Bush administration struggling
to repair its faltering image.
Vice President Dick Cheney’s
chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter”
Libby resigned after being indicted
on two charges of false statements,
two charges of perjury and one
charge of obstruction of justice.
“(Libby’s resignation is) a big
loss for the vice president and
the administration,” said Michael
Gerhardt, a professor at the UNC
School of Law. “It’s not clear
whether there’s anybody who could
fill Libby’s void.”
Losing Libby is a major blow to
the Bush administration following
Harriet Miers’ withdrawal from
the Supreme Court confirmation
process, sluggish responses to hur
Miers’ withdrawal shifts spotlight
BY LINDSEY NAYLOR
STAFF WRITER
The recent withdrawal of
Harriet Miers’ Supreme Court
nomination has left Justice Sandra
Day O’Connor on the bench, and
many wonder what her continued
presence could mean for upcoming
cases.
Michael Gerhardt, professor
of constitutional law at the UNC
School of Law, said O’Connor’s
presence is significant because of
her moderate stance and tendency
to be the deciding vote in contro
versial cases.
“As long as she is there, she has
power over the center,” he said.
Despite her influence, Gerhardt
said he doubts the process of bring
ing cases to the court will change
because there is a finite time in
which to make appeals.
“I think that the timing of cases
have a schedule unto themselves,
and I’m not sure how much con
trol you’ll have over that within
the next few months,” said William
Marshall, professor of law at
UNC.
One of the most hotly debated
The College of Arts & Sciences presents
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y Minrose Gwin
KjJk Kenan Eminent Professor of Southern Literature
Where Are the Voices
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a Jeff Spinner-Halev
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What is the
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0 UNC Tuesday, November 1
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The Kenan Eminent Professorships are made possible by a
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ricanes and the U.S. military death
toll in Iraq passing the 2,000 mark,
Gerhardt said.
It will require most of the
administration’s dwindling politi
cal capital to recover from losing
one of its top advisers, he added.
Patrick Basham, a senior fellow
at the Center for Representative
Government at the Cato Institute,
said the timing of the charges is
what is most significant.
“This administration has faced
something of a perfect storm over
the last few weeks,” he said.
“(The indictment will) resonate
nationally because it will come at
a time when the president is at his
weakest politically.”
He said the administration is
experiencing a “death by a thou
sand cuts... suffering one cut after
another.”
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald
explained the indictment in a press
conference Friday afternoon when
he ran through the chronology of
events and then summarized the
charges against Libby.
issues is whether O’Connor’s con
tinued presence on the bench will
have any bearing on abortion cases
being brought before the court.
Experts said anti-abortion
groups wall wait to gauge the views
and priorities of O’Connor’s even
tual replacement before attempt
ing to bring divisive issues before
the court.
Tom Hansford, professor of
political science at the University
of South Carolina, said a conserva
tive replacement might encourage
right-wing communities to enact
the kind of anti-abortion legisla
tion that might reach the Court.
He named the anti-abortion
Texas Supreme Court Justice
Priscilla Owen as one justice who
might elicit that type of response.
Gerhardt said the most pressing
issue will be partial-birth abortion,
which O’Connor voted to uphold in
2000. But Roe v. Wade itself is not
in danger of being overturned, he
said.
“Roe is probably not going to
rise or fall with O’Connor’s replace
ment,” he said.
With Miers’ withdrawal
“(Libby) was ... the first official
to disclose this information out
side the government to a reporter.”
Fitzgerald said. “And then he lied
about it afterwards, under oath
and repeatedly.”
The indictment comes after
more than two years of investi
gation into the leak of CIA agent
Valerie Plame Wilson’s classified
identity.
The indictment alleges that
Libby lied in his testimony when he
said that he merely passed informa
tion about Valerie Wilson’s identity
from one reporter to another and
neither confirmed nor disproved
that she worked for the CIA.
“Mr. Libby’s story that he was
at the tail end of a chain of phone
calls, passing on from one reporter
what he heard from another, was
not true. It was false,” Fitzgerald
said.
As for how high up the respon
sibility will run, Fitzgerald’s com
ments were intentionally ambigu
ous. Many reporters wanted to
know if Karl Rove, the president’s
“In this scenario Bush may please his
base but face the embarassment of
another failed nomination.”
TOM HANSFORD, PROFESSOR
Thursday came instant specula
tion as to whom President Bush
would nominate next.
Hansford said the ideal can
didate from a Republican stand
point would be a known conserva
tive judge, such as Judge Michael
Luttig, of the 4th U.S, Circuit
Court of Appeals to appease the
more conservative elements of the
party.
But he said Democrats spent no
political capital on the Miers’ nom
ination, putting them in a better
position to filibuster any nominee
they perceive as leaning too far to
the right.
“In this scenario Bush may
please his base but face the embar
rassment of another failed nomi
nation,” he said.
Gerhardt said the approval of
a conservative nomination will
News
top political adviser, was under
investigation.
The indictment references a
senior “Official A” in the White
House who discussed Wilson’s
identity with Robert Novak of The
New York Times.
Fitzgerald answered multiple
questions about Official A by
explaining that, by law, he is bound
to secrecy.
“I know that people want to
know whatever it is that we know,
and they’re probably sitting at
home with the TV thinking, ‘I want
to jump through the TV, grab him
by his collar and tell him to tell us
everything they figured out over the
last two years,’” Fitzgerald said.
“We just can’t do that. It’s not
because we enjoy holding back
information from you. That’s the
law.”
If convicted on all five counts,
Libby could face a maximum of 30
years in prison.
Contact the State £2 National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
be harder because of Miers’ with
drawal.
“The next nominee will face the
same kind of close scrutiny that
Miers faced,” he said.
Hansford said Bush might
choose to nominate someone like
now-Chief Justice John Roberts
an experienced and, most impor
tantly, confirmable conservative.
But he said a third scenario
could pit Bush against the far-right
members of his party who did not
fully support Miers’ nomination.
In this case, someone such
as Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales, a close friend of the
president who is reasonably quali
fied and far from radically conser
vative, might be nominated.
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
The Carolina Center
for Jewish Studies
presents
Matzoh Ball Gumbo:
Culinary Tales
OF THE
Jewish South
An examination of the expressive power of
food throughout southern Jewish history
IMarcie
Cohen
Ferris
Assistant Professor of
American Studies and
Associate Director of
the Carolina Center for
Jewish Studies
9 COLLEGE OF
ARTS & SCIENCES
Co-sponsored by UNC Press.
* Jjß . SL -'-'t y
DTH/BLAKE KIMBALL
The Middle School Dance in the Carmichael Ballroom on Saturday
night was organized to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
UNC turns back clock
for hurricane response
BY EMILY BISKER
STAFF WRITER
The Macarena rang out in the
Carmichael Ballroom as students
relived the awkwardness of their
middle-school years.
Members of Extended Katrina
Relief hosted a dance with a mid
dle-school theme Saturday night to
raise funds for hurricane victims.
“Middle school was the most
amazing and awkward time,” soph
omore Will West said.
All proceeds, including those
from ticket and homemade-corsage
sales, will go toward the fundrais
ing group’s SIO,OOO goal.
With this money, the group
plans to rebuild a home dur
ing Thanksgiving break that was
destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in
Gulfport, Miss.
Students who participated in the
dance said they were impressed by
the atmosphere of the dance itself,
which included a choice selection
of music from the late 19905.
The middle-school theme is a
good conversation starter, said
sophomore Delaney Kloesel. “It’s
just fun. People can revert back to
middle-school times.”
Sophomore Tiffany McDole said
the theme was creative. “When else
do you get to dance to ‘Mmmbop’
with 100 other college students?”
The dance was successful, sopho
more Rachel Osborn said, because
it was different from other events.
“I’m having the best time I’ve
had since middle school,” she said.
The purpose of Extended Katrina
(Dip Daily oar
Relief is to provide long-term relief
for the hurricane’s victims.
“People stop caring after a
while,” said Mary Small, EKR
chairwoman.
Disasters happen all the time,
she said, and problems associated
with them do not end once the
media stops covering them.
The group vows to remain active
in Katrina relief for the next year,
at least, Small said.
McDole said she was impressed
by Small’s efforts to help victims
throughout a long period of time.
“Relief stops fast,” McDole said.
She said EKR is unique in its mis
sion to prolong relief efforts
But EKR is not the only group
on campus continuing to provide
support for hurricane victims.
The Office of Human Resources is
holding a food drive during the first
full week of each month through
January, and the UNC Chapter of
the Red Cross is asking for student
donations to support relief efforts.
The School of Social Work is
sponsoring a food collection drive in
conjunction with the Food Bank of
Eastern and Central North Carolina
and America’s Second Harvest, the
nation’s food bank network.
A Web site, www.4lfor4l.com,
also has been set up in honor of
UNC basketball player and Gulf
port native Byron Sanders, asking
fans to donate s4l his jersey
number each to hurricane relief.
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.