Today's NY Times exposed more about Eric Holder's role in Bill Clinton's corrupt pardon of Marc Rich, and it's not pretty.

Mr. Holder had more than a half-dozen contacts with Mr. Rich’s lawyers over 15 months, including phone calls, e-mail and memorandums.

Holder was Deputy Attorney General at the time, so he was plenty busy. Why did he spend so much time on the Rich pardon? Glenn Greenwald has a theory:

Jack Quinn was Legal Counsel to Al Gore -- who, during most of Holder's work on the Rich case, looked to be the likely next President.  After his work with Gore, Quinn became Clinton's White House counsel.  He left the Clinton administration in 1996 to form a lobbying firm with Republican Ed Gillespie -- Quinn Gillespie & Associates -- one of the early pioneers of the now-common, sleazy, bipartisan influence-peddling rings that dominate how the Beltway functions.  Eric Holder swung his doors wide open for Marc Rich because Jack Quinn was a highly influential power-broker in Democratic Party circles and was a former and quite possibly future colleague of Holder's.  It's just as simple as that. 

The Marc Rich pardon appears corrupt in multiple ways - Rich's ex-wife Denise contributed $1 million to Bill Clinton's library while Holder was doing personal favors for Jack Quinn.

Of course, neither Bill Clinton nor Eric Holder authorized Marc Rich to commit tax fraud. But George Bush may pardon dozens or hundreds of officials who committed crimes he personally authorized, including torture and other war crimes.

If the consequences of a venal pardon are so bad, imagine the consequences of truly evil pardons.