Good to Have Judges

A little while ago I told you how federal prosecutors were pushing for a twenty-year sentence for Abramoff associate Kevin Ring. I don’t think anyone thinks I’m an apologist for the folks in the Abramoff scandal. But that’s two decades for giving sporting events tickets to members of Congress and staffers. Most of the folks in the scandal got about a year, if they were even indicted. And even Abramoff himself got only a little over three years. The prosecutors made little attempt to hide the fact that they were pushing for this crazy sentence as pay back for Ring not pleading out. Today a federal judge said, No, you can’t do that.