The Exculpatory "No"

Walter Olson at Overlawyered has an interesting article on prosecutions for "lying" contrasting these prosecutions with what used to be called "the exculpatory 'no.'" 

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge, Bridgett McCafferty (pic, entering court) was scheduled to be sentenced on her conviction for multiple counts of lying to the FBI.  That sentencing hearing was put off to August--her convictions falls well within this discussion.  As I have said repeatedly, this "disgraced" judge was prosecuted for nothing more than "lying" in and of itself.  She committed no underlying crime apart from stupidity and a breach of ethics. Her lies to the FBI were nothing more than an attempt to deny unethical phone calls she had with her political bosses that asked for favors that in and of themselves appear not to have impacted the outcome of a case she supervised.  McCafferty's career is gone, she lost her law license, and reputation but, of course, that's not enough, the federal prosecutor wants her to spend years in the federal penitentiary.