From our new editorial, set against the backdrop of John Conyers’s excuse to bring Joe Wilson to the Hill (hearings) today:

There’s a notion on the left that the president commuted Libby’s sentence, rather than give him a pardon, in order to keep him quiet; with his appeal going forward, Libby can decline to appear before congressional committees because his case is still in court. Perhaps that argument would make sense if Libby had kept quiet. But he appeared twice before CIA-leak prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s grand jury. That testimony was, of course, secret, but later all eight hours of it were played at Libby’s trial. Anyone who wants to can read it today. Given the aggressiveness with which Fitzgerald pursued his investigation — does anyone believe a congressional committee would send reporters to jail if they refused to testify? — it’s hard to imagine that Congress would find key facts that Fitzgerald didn’t. No, the reason Democrats want to question Libby, and the reason Chairman Conyers invited Joseph Wilson to testify today, is that this hearing is a political exercise, pure and simple.