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StumblePublished Wednesday, May 6, 2009 | 9:57 a.m.
Updated Wednesday, May 6, 2009 | 10 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Former Bush administration officials have been asking the Justice Department to soften the findings in its investigation of memos signed by Nevadan Jay Bybee and another former department lawyer that authorized harsh interrogation techniques, the Washington Post is reporting today.
The Post reports that representatives for Bybee and the other former official encouraged the effort:
“Former Bush administration officials have launched a behind-the-scenes campaign to urge Justice Department leaders to soften an ethics report criticizing lawyers who blessed harsh detainee interrogation tactics, according to two sources familiar with the efforts.
“Representatives for John C. Yoo and Jay S. Bybee, subjects of the ethics probe, have encouraged former Justice Department and White House officials to contact new officials at the department to point out the troubling precedent of imposing sanctions on legal advisers, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the process is not complete.”
Bybee signed off on a key memo that allowed harsh interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, which critics say is torture, during his tenure in the Bush administration’s Justice Department.
(The memo also authorized using a caterpillar to psychologically challenge a suspect afraid of stinging bugs — a technique that was not used.)
The Justice Department has been conducting an ethics probe of the memos due out possibly later this summer.
Bybee now serves on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and is based in Las Vegas. Some lawmakers in Washington have called for him to step down, and some critics have called for his impeachment.
The Post goes on to report that the draft document recommended disciplinary action, but no criminal prosecutions.
“The draft report of more than 200 pages, prepared in January before Bush's departure, recommends disciplinary action, rather than criminal prosecution, by state bar associations against Yoo and Bybee, former attorneys in the department's Office of Legal Counsel, for their work in preparing and signing the interrogation memos. State bar associations have the power to suspend a lawyer's license to practice or impose other penalties.”
Bybee, who taught at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law and remains on faculty there, has remained mostly silent despite escalating calls for his impeachment from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Only last week did Bybee release a statement to the New York Times defending his work after an earlier Washington Post story reported that he had expressed regrets over his role in the memos.
The Post reported today that Maureen Mahoney, an attorney for Bybee, declined to comment, citing a confidentiality agreement with the Justice Department. Bybee faced a Monday deadline to respond to investigators, the Post said.
Nevada’s two senators supported Bybee’s appointment to the federal bench in 2003, and have declined to say he should step down.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the Sun late last month that he wanted to wait for further information before making any decisions.
Republican Sen. John Ensign defended Bybee’s work, and said calls for his impeachment are “outrageous.”
Bybee’s colleagues at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law have been puzzled by the memos, saying they don’t match the scholar they knew.
While it's probably impossible to impeach Judge Bybee for his role in the torture memos (since that work predated his service on the Ninth Circuit) both he and Mr. Yoo should be investigated by an independent special prosecutor as to whether they should face criminal charges based on the memos. At the least, it seems the government has probable cause to charge them with conspiracy to violate 18 U.S.C. 2441 (the War Crimes Act of 1996); and solicitation to violate 18 U.S.C. 2441 (because they knew, or should have known, their memos would be seen as an invitation to U.S. Military personnel to torture prisoners given the "legal cover" the memos provided). Deciding not to pursue criminal charges against the men and women who were "only following orders", as the President has apparently elected to do, is only legally and ethically defensible if those who dishonored their law licenses by making the torture possible face the real prospect of punishment. Suspension or disbarment just won't cut it--and the world has made it clear that if the U.S. won't hold Bush's rogues to account, we may have to face the spectacle of former U.S. officials facing trial by foreign governments. As an American and an attorney, it would be a sad day for me if we no longer can clean our own dirty laundry.
Very well said "LasVegasLawyerGal" - let's just do the right thing! America needs to regain it's moral, ethical and legal footing in the international community - it's a matter of our National Honor!
An impartial grand jury should investigate, and indict ALL found guilty under the rule of law - either the law applies to all of us or we have lost our way in American society!
As for punishment? We should look at the history and existing precedents! Then, disbar and impeach (where applicable), and punish all those found guilty appropriately! Letting Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfield and their rogues get away with these War Crimes is simply beyond the pale and totally unacceptable!
The vast majority of our professional military refused to carry out these illegal orders because they knew these acts of torture violated the Geneva Convention and the rule of law - they should be publicly recognized and commended for the personal bravery in risking their careers!
Those few that put their careers before their oath, and commitment to the creed, code and core should be duly investigated, indicted and imprisoned - and that includes EVERYONE from the bottom all the way to the top! If we finally prosecute a former President, maybe, just maybe we won't see anyone like Nixon or Bush every again - at least, for a very long time!
I'm all for cleaning our dirty laundry. I'm all for mounting an investigation of the crimes of the last administration.
Reasons? Volunteer soldiers risk everything when they go to war, including the possibility of being taken prisoner. My dad was a POW. Some of the things they did to him during his 3 year ordeal at the hands of the Japanese from the fall of Bataan until after the bombs were life-changing.
The level of torture, the denial of humanity and the incredible devastation perpetrated on our very own citizens are what we are addressing in this issue, not just whether going after the bad guys is ok.
What goes around comes around.
Watching all this media hot gas expended on the unjustified Iraq War and torture collusion between Bush's administration and a complicit Democratic Party play out on the cable news for the last 6 years, reminds me of the old soft porn movies of the 1960s. They promised a lot but never delivered. It is the same thing now. Any person with an ounce of intelligence know why the news media and the politicians neither indict or say, once and for all, WHY ALL THIS IS GOING ON!
The Iraq war was secretly put together by Zionists in both parties as a war to further Israel's Foreign policy. It was GRAND TREASON AND CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT TREASON. So it is disingenuous for media people, who were in on it, to claim 'they are getting to the bottom of it now'. No they aren't! They will only pretend to be doing that! All the 'exasperation' with politicians is fake. We Americans are supposed to finally tire of all the directionless palaver. It is nothing but Kabuki theater.
Our domestic enemies are the Zionist agents in the Senate, the Congress and what ever administration is currently sitting. They are a recombinant virus on the Commonwealth of these United States. You people in the media think all Americans are stupid or will forget easily. I have news for you, this will never happen and eventually all traitors to this country will finally be held fully accountable for their deeds.
This matter will not be resolved until the United States Military does what it is SWORN to do and 'protect the Constitution from enemies, both FOREIGN and DOMESTIC'. One of these bright days, every media mope and corrupt politician in New York and Washington is going to wake up in handcuffs and be frog-marched by Military Police to tribunals investigating the largest case of Treason ever committed on this planet.
Don't be a Baby Bybee. Take it like a man. That's what you authorized other men to take. You gambled with the Bushers to win a lifetime judgeship and you won. But the new sheriff in town found your dice (which you forgot to destroy) and they are loaded.
jay bybee sold his soul to the devil for a seat on the bench. now he wants the same corrupt system to exonerate him. he's not only an embarrassment to the state of nevada but to humanity at large. that a war criminal can prosper in this state shouldn't be allowed to stand but it will, much to our regret. the man is a proven coward. we arn't much better for allowing it. has nevada no shame?
I know it's far-fetched to assume that Bybee will actually suffer any type of legal retribution for alleged crimes relating to his apparent predisposition towards justifiable abuse but:
Just in Case, Can I Ask a Favor?
If, in fact, he does lose his Federal slot, would it be asking too much of the MCC (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Casion Complex) to abstain from shoeing him in as a Municipal Judge.
I know you guys like a Municipal Judge that's TOUGH ON HOMELESSNESS. But, C'MON, WATERBOARDING THE HOMELESS!
Surely, there are other more civilized ways to run unlucky gamers out of town.