He was going to apply, but he, ahem, "forgot"...

Libby has not applied for a pardon, DOJ says.

WASHINGTON — The most notable feature of the Justice Department file containing hundreds of formal applications beseeching President Bush to be merciful and grant some sort of clemency before he leaves office may be the one name that is not there.

I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, has not applied for a pardon, Justice Department officials have said. Mr. Libby was convicted of four felony counts in March 2007 for his role in the investigation of the leak of Valerie Wilson’s employment with the Central Intelligence Agency.

Mr. Libby, known as Scooter, has been at the top of the speculative lists that accompany the holiday season, especially in the last year of a presidency, of who might receive a White House gift of clemency, which can take the form of an outright pardon or a commutation of a sentence. Mr. Bush had already used his constitutional authority in July 2007 to commute Mr. Libby’s sentence, wiping out the 30-month prison term imposed by a judge, but leaving intact the conviction and lesser penalties including a $250,000 fine.

The conviction means that Mr. Libby cannot practice law because he had to surrender his bar membership. Many of his friends have hoped that he might be given a pardon on top of the commutation, not only to allow him to practice law but also to wipe out what they regard as an injustice. Mr. Libby was not convicted of leaking Ms. Wilson’s name, but of obstruction of justice and lying to a grand jury and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who were looking into the disclosure of her identity.

He became the most senior White House official convicted of a felony since the Watergate scandal of the Nixon administration.

The New York Times has the rest of the story here.