On Bybee and Impeachment

[Perky]

I understand the outrage.
I understand this guy essentially gave legal sanction to torture.
I am just not sure that he should be impeached.

Should he resign absolutely.


But do we really want to impeach a judge for something he did before he joined the bench? For something that legal scholars was not sure in and of itself was a crime? He did not order anyone tortured, He did not personally torture anyone. He wrote a document for his bosses, to provide a legal foundation for something that the majority of Americans find repugnant.

I think he is an idiot and a stooge. But to impeach a judge for writing a faulty legal opinion at the request of his bosses, before he was confirmed to sit on Appellate court, seems to set a very dangerous precedent.

Seems to me we were outraged at the firing od US Attorneys who refused to allow there offices to be politicized. We did not think Gonzales and Rove had the right to do what they did. Yet calls for the impeachment of Bybee is even more insidious in my mind. If a judge can be impeached for opinions he wrote before he was a judge, the how much more easy will it be to impeach a judge for his opinions he writes from the bench? There are very good reasons for making lifetime appointments. Reasons that on occasion give us solace and grief,

But calls for impeachment from congress critters are really calls for a do-over. If Congressional investigators and Senatorial questioning did not do a sufficient job at vetting his opinions whether personally held or not, is sad, tragic and tough. Impeachment of may be political, but it should never be for opinions written either before or after the confirmation,

He is tainted. He should resign. He should be forced to resign by public opinion and his judicial colleagues. But he should not be impeached for something he did before sitting on the bench, that may not ultimately be found to be no violation of the law.

[NMDemDist2]

1. bullshit

he sanctioned torture which is against the law. the fact that those facts weren't in evidence during his confirmation hearings is the point, leaving impeachment the only option should he not step down

[shraby]

2. A written opinion that faulty shows extreme lack

of judgement..which a sitting judge is supposed to have. No one knew he'd written it because it was secret. At minimum he should resign and lose his license. If he doesn't resign, he should be impeached and lose his license. He's a faulty judge who should never be allowed to sit in judgement of others.

[Spazito]

3. Bybee conspired to commit torture...

United States Code
TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I - CRIMES
CHAPTER 113C - TORTURE

U.S. Code as of: 01/19/04
Section 2340A. Torture

(a) Offense. - Whoever outside the United States commits or
attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to
any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be
punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.
(b) Jurisdiction. - There is jurisdiction over the activity
prohibited in subsection (a) if -
(1) the alleged offender is a national of the United States; or
(2) the alleged offender is present in the United States,
irrespective of the nationality of the victim or alleged
offender.



(c) Conspiracy. - A person who conspires to commit an offense
under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other
than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the
offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/113c/sections/section_2340a.html



Definition of torture:

Section 2340. Definitions

As used in this chapter -
(1) "torture" means an act committed by a person acting under
the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical
or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering
incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his
custody or physical control;
(2) "severe mental pain or suffering" means the prolonged
mental harm caused by or resulting from -
(A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of
severe physical pain or suffering;
(B) the administration or application, or threatened
administration or application, of mind-altering substances or
other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or
the personality;
(C) the threat of imminent death; or
(D) the threat that another person will imminently be
subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the
administration or application of mind-altering substances or
other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or
personality;

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/18/parts/i/chapters/113c/sections/section_2340.html


He should be impeached and charged with conspiracy to commit torture.

[jberryhill]

4. "writing a faulty legal opinion at the request of his bosses"

That's an ethical violation right there, and no, it doesn't matter when he did it.

The "opinions" were tailored to specified outcomes, well beyond any reasoned analysis, and did not represent independent professional judgment. The fact that Bybee himself has tried to explain himself as having signed off on an opinion with which he was not comfortable is all the admission needed.

[Supersedeas]

5. his opinion formed the legal basis (duped the Golden Shield) to enable torture--do we want a

torture enabler on the Federal Bench?

[AtomicKitten]

6. He would not have been confirmed had this info been made available at the time.

He advocated skirting Federal law, the Constitution, and International Law. There really is no gray area here. With the threat of impeachment hanging over his head, he should pull up his socks and resign.