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Institutional Memory

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Institutional Memory
Season: 7
Episode: 21
Written By: Debora Cahn
Directed By: Lesli Linka Glatter
Airdate: May 7, 2006
Guest Stars: Timothy Busfield
Kathleen York
NiCole Robinson
Karis Campbell
Vince Grant
Scott Klace
Matt Malloy
David Hornsby
and Xander Berkeley


As Bartlet's administration prepares to transition in the Santos administration, CJ is faced with what to do with her future. Will is also in a position of uncertainty about what is to come.

Contents

[edit] Summary

The White House is in full transition mode, and the outgoing staff is focusing on their futures. C.J. is barraged by head hunters, most of whom she blows off, until mogul Franklin Hollis offers her $10 billion to fix infrastructure to fight AIDS in Africa. Will meets with the DCCC and begins trying to recruit candidates to run against a seemingly unbeatable Congressman from the Oregon 4th District.

Andrea drops by and asks C.J. about the possibility of Toby receiving a pardon from the President. C.J. promises only that she'll see what she can do but later sees that Toby is not on any list of persons who have applied for a pardon.

As the transition moves along, C.J. meets with Matt Santos and receives an offer she may not be able to refuse: Special Counselor to the President.

Meanwhile, Kate add Will discuss their own futures. To Kate's chagrin, the Santos administration gave the job of National Security Adviser to a man who dislikes her, essentially ensuring that she won't be offered a job. Will tells her about the Oregon 4th race, and she convinces him to run for the seat.

Danny Concannon takes C.J. out for a walk, and she reveals that she's been offered a job in the Santos administration. Danny realizes that she didn't talk to him about the offer and that he and C.J. don't have the kind of relationship where she sees him as part of her future.

Back at the White House, Matt Santos shows up to discuss the budget with C.J. They discuss the gas tax that C.J. proposed, with Santos arguing that it should be pulled from the budget and once again tries to convince C.J. to come work for him.

Later that night, C.J. pays a visit to Toby, who tells her that he believes he found a typo in the Constitution: a comma which changes the meaning of the Takings Clause. C.J. mentions that Andrea mentioned the idea of a pardon, but Toby insists that he doesn't want one. C.J. mentions the job offers she's received, and Toby advises her to stop bouncing and decide what she wants to do. After departing Toby's apartment, C.J. visits Danny and realizes that she no longer wants to work at the White House, opting instead to take Franklin Hollis up on his offer and being working on building a relationship with Danny.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Starring

[edit] Special Guest Star

[edit] Guest Starring

[edit] Co-Starring

[edit] Trivia

Toby tells C.J. that he thinks that he has found a typo in the Constitution, specifically in the Takings Clause. The passage he was referring to is as follows and the comma in question is bolded:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use , without just compensation.

He states that he is going to talk to Tom Merrill about it. Tom Merrill is a real person, who is a Professor at Columbia Law School and is a co-author of the book Property: Takings.

[edit] Goofs

The act of a Presidential Pardon is not as simple as it seems. There are several steps that must be taken in order to even be considered for a Presidential Pardon. If Toby was as uninterested about receiving a pardon as the episode indicates, then it is likely that he didn’t even bother to do any type of preparation or file the paperwork with the Office of the Pardon Attorney as needed. There is the possibility that Andy, as his ex-wife, may have had access to his documentation to begin the process, but the paperwork alone is not enough. There is a five-year waiting period after conviction or the end incarceration before eligibility begins, [1] and the FBI must investigate the person in order to even be recommended to the Pardon Attorney.[2] Once the Pardon Attorney has conducted his own investigation, if satisfied, then the pardon could be recommended to the President. A Presidential pardon is like no other: “it removes or eliminates all disabilities that arise from the federal or military offense that is the subject of the pardon.” [3] The person pardoned would be able to vote and all other civil liberties that may have been denied due to a felony record would be restored. [1]

[edit] Quotes

C.J. Cregg: Is it on page 600?
Fred: No.
C.J. Cregg: Where is it?
Herb: There isn't any.
C.J. Cregg: What do you mean there isn't any?
Fred: There's no...
C.J. Cregg: The president said he wanted deficit reduction worked into this budget. I said it should be 50%. Was that not clear?
Herb: We thought it was along the lines of, "I'd like a pony".
Fred: Nobody actually expects to get the pony.
C.J. Cregg: I want the pony.

[edit] References

"The West Wing" Institutional Memory (2006)
Tom Merrill
The Comma in the Takings Clause

[edit] Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.silicon-valley.com/pardonme/index.shtml Pardon Me! -- The Pardon Resource Center
  2. ↑ http://www.usdoj.gov/pardon/pardon_instructions.htm Pardon Information and Instructions
  3. ↑ http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/pardons3.htm Jurist Leagal Intelligence
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