Former White House adviser Lewis “Scooter” Libby, convicted last year for lying to a grand jury and federal agents probing the leak of a CIA agent’s identity, was disbarred from practicing law in the nation’s capital on Thursday.

“When a member of the Bar is convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, disbarment is mandatory,” the District of Columbia Court of Appeals wrote in its opinion, which is posted on its Web site.

Last July, a court sentenced Libby, once Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, to a 30-month prison term. President Bush later commuted Libby’s sentence, calling it “excessive.” The president stopped short of an outright pardon, noting that “our entire system of justice relies on people telling the truth.”

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