Dear President Obama: Release Pollard

Yet another letter winds up on the president's desk:

January 28, 2011

The Honorable Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500-0001

Dear Mr. President:

I was Counsel to the President in 1993-94. Along with Deputy Attorney General Philip Heymann, who has written to you regarding Jonathan Pollard, I also extensively reviewed the Pollard file while I served in the White House. I write this letter to state that I fully share the view expressed by Professor Heymann – as well as the other distinguished former public officials who have written to you – that the time has come for Jonathan Pollard’s sentence to be commuted.

I will not repeat the cogent reasons set forth in Professor Heymann’s letter except to say that I too believe that Jonathan Pollard has been appropriately punished for his conduct and that a failure at this time to commute his sentence would not serve the course of justice; indeed, I respectfully believe, it would be a miscarriage of justice.
Sincerely,

Bernard W. Nussbaum

The people who have reviewed the Pollard file have confirmed what I have been claiming on this blog for years: that the continued incarceration of Jonathan Pollard is a miscarriage of justice. Now that the issue at hand is so clear, what is President Obama waiting for?