"Be Nice" at Home, Torture Everywhere Else

[Cronopio]

http://www.meridianmagazine.com/people/030708jay.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-scahill/jay-bybees-rules-at-home_b_190566.html

... Bybee said that unlike the common law, the Constitution is a written document and the text must be consulted. His analysis of the Constitution is that it provides two things. First it provides a process to create laws, with rules about how to make additional rules. An example is that although the Constitution says nothing about the environment per se, it nevertheless provides a process for creating rules about the environment. Second, the Constitution provides some actual rules, as it does with the First Amendment.

Regarding the law itself, Bybee said he appreciates the role of law in a society which must ask the fundamental question, “How are we going to conduct ourselves?” He explained that there is a system of rules and standards in the law as well as in our personal lives. In his own home, for example, a standard is, “Be nice,” and a rule to encourage that is, “Don’t hit.” He also pointed out that standards are always harder to enforce because it is difficult to define exactly what the standard is. “How do you define honesty,” he asked, “and who is applying the definition?” ...

“People in the Old Testament were absolutely devoted to the law of Moses and required exact obedience to it,” he explained. “Their main concern was that they not find themselves on the wrong side of the law, and they spent their lives trying to bring themselves and each other into conformity with it. While we should admire their zeal to follow the rule of law, we nevertheless have to recognize that without understanding the spirit or purpose of the law, there aren’t enough rules in the world to make a person be good.” ...

Bybee says he is honored by his new judicial appointment, but feels the tremendous responsibility of his new position. “Talk is cheap,” he says. “There’s a difference between the theoretical discussion of the law and its practice. I take very seriously the fact that I have people’s economic interests, liberty, and very lives in my hands.”

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A well-spoken, and well-spoken of, pillar of the community.

Edit: four paras.
Edit: title