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Monday, July 2, 2007

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WASHINGTON -- A federal appeals court refused on Monday to step in and delay former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence in the CIA leak case.

The unanimous decision is a dramatic setback for Libby's legal case and puts pressure on President Bush, who has been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Libby faces 2½ years in prison on his conviction of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. The former chief of staff to Cheney, he is the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra affair.

Libby had hoped that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit would put that sentence on hold because he believed he had a good chance of overturning the conviction on appeal. The court unanimously rejected the request.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has not yet assigned Libby a prison or given him a date to surrender. But last week it designated him as federal inmate No. 28301-016.

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