California Democrats Call For Criminal Investigation Of Bybee

The California state Democratic Party called for a "vigorous investigation" into the "possible criminal actions of Judge Jay Bybee and others" on Sunday at the party's annual convention in Sacramento.

The resolution supporting the investigation passed by a voice vote and stops short of calling for immediate impeachment. "The thinking is, if you're having hearings, don't announce on the first day that you're convicting," said Bob Mulholland, a state party adviser. "In this case, the evidence is overwhelming, but clearly it's going to be up to Congress and the U.S. Justice Department to pursue anything."

John Heaner, one of the author's of the resolution, said that its passage is significant because it means investigations have support not just at the grassroots level but among elected California leaders.

"The state party doesn't act unilaterally on these sorts of things. There are consultations behind the scenes," said Heaner. "At some level there was a go-ahead given."

Heaner noted that the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, is a California Democrat and that her daughter Christine Pelosi is an active member of the state party and head of the platform committee. "Yes, it was a grassroots effort but we are united in a way that hasn't come to the surface yet," he said. "When a resolution comes in that may be controversial, we work carefully within the party mechanism."

The Washington Post quoted a number of friends of Bybee's on Saturday saying that he regretted having signed the torture memos. But Bybee continues to serve as a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, a position he was appointed to because the Bush administration was pleased with the work he did for the White House.

Impeachment hearings would begin in the House Judiciary Committee, where chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) has vowed to look into the role that Bush administration attorneys such as Bybee played in illegally authorizing torture. The state party's action is meant to encourage those hearings and demonstrate that support for investigations is a mainstream Democratic Party position.

"This is a message to them: 'Hey, we're backing you up, Congress, so continue the investigations and the hearings,'" said Mulholland. "I would think an overwhelming number of Democratic voters in California would agree with this."

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David Dayen, a blogger and a delegate to past conventions, helped push the resolution through committee and onto the floor. The statement is meant to let California Democratic lawmakers know that "their state party just supported immediate congressional inquiry and need you as members of the state party to follow that."

Dayen said backers of the resolution will focus specifically on the six California Democrats on the Judiciary Committee: Howard Berman, Linda Sanchez, Brad Sherman, Zoe Lofgren, Maxine Waters and Adam Schiff.

Sanchez, a key subcommittee chairwoman in the judiciary committee, previously told the Huffington Post she is "not comfortable" with Bybee serving a lifelong term on the federal bench. "I feel that if we fail to act on these detestable facts, we are sending the wrong message," she said.

On Saturday, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) expressed openness to investigations, which party activists took as a sign that state party leaders were on board. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is leading an investigation as chairwoman of the intelligence committee, but much of her report may end up classified.

Another subcommittee chairman, Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), has called for Bybee's impeachment, as has the New York Times editorial board.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has said that if Bybee is "decent and honorable" he will resign. John Podesta, the head of Obama's transition team, said much the same on CNN over the weekend.

"If he would do the right thing, he should just simply resign. If he doesn't, I think this is one matter where he continues to sit -- he doesn't have the moral or legal authority to continue to do that. And I think a simple matter would be to remove him from office," he said.

On Monday, Dayen launched an online effort to drive phone calls and e-mails to committee members, calling for hearings to impeach Bybee, in coordination with FireDogLake.com.

The full resolution:

CALLING FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF JUDGE JAY BYBEE AND OTHERS FOR THEIR ROLE IN ALLOWING TORTURE AS PART OF "ENHANCED INTERROGATION"

Whereas, former Assistant Attorney General, and current Federal Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Jay Bybee signed the "Bybee Memo," or "Torture Memo" of August 1, 2002, which advised the C.I.A. that "cruel, inhuman or degrading" treatment was at times allowable under U.S. law, and authored, co-authored and signed other memos on "extraordinary rendition" and "enhanced interrogation," more of which are being currently revealed to the American public as the new Administration brings them to light; and

Whereas the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment, the supreme law of the land under Article VI of our Constitution, requires the prosecution of those who authorize torture, and it has been established that waterboarding is torture; and

Whereas, on January 15, 2009 before leaving office, President George W. Bush, in an effort to cover his culpability, and the culpability of others, had his Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice issue a memo stating that certain opinions issued in 2001-2003 with respect to "the allocation of authorities between President and Congress in matters of war and national security do not reflect the current view of this Office;"

Therefore be it resolved that the California Democratic Party supports resolution of inquiry and vigorous investigation of these and related actions by the Congress of the United States, including the full use of Congressional subpoena power authority and all appropriate remedies, to disclose completely the possible criminal actions of Judge Jay Bybee and others to the American people and to take necessary and available action with appropriate remedies and punishment allowed by law; and

Be it further resolved, that a copy of this resolution with its original authorization be sent to the Office of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, and that copies of the signed resolution be sent to each Democratic member of the California delegation to the United States Senate and House of Representatives.

Ryan Grim is the author of the forthcoming book This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America

Comments

[gfellow]

Judging from the overwhelming amount of posting on the topic, I'm mildly surprised that the lick-spittle "Blue Dog" Democrats who voted in favor of the banks, defeating even moderate protection for stressed home owners, has dropped off the Huffington Post front page - or did I miss something?

[1dogs2]

An investigation by the ethics committee of the bar of the state in which Bybee is licensed to practice should precede any other action. Impeachment is a political remedy. It would be more appropriate to deal with the issue through an ethical inquiry and, depending on the result, a criminal investigation. If found guilty, impeachment will be unnecessary. This issue needs to be removed from the political arena and treated like the legal issue it fundamentally is.

[ReportThis]

I disagree. California can disbar Bybee -- and it will have absolutely no impact on his lifetime tenure on the federal bench. And - despite the Republican's abuse of the impeachment process during Clinton's presidency, impeachment is a legal, not political, remedy. In fact, it's the only avenue by which Bybee can be removed from the bench.

[1dogs2]

If he is prosecuted in a court of law and found guilty, the likelihood of which would be greatly increased by his disbarment, he could not serve as a judge. Impeachment is a remedy of the legislative branch of government, which by its nature operates in the political realm. This issue should be decided in the first instance by the only non-political branch of government -- the judiciary. Impeachment should be the last, rather than the first, resort or the entire issue will continue to be treated as a political, rather than the legal and moral issue it is.

[dems08]

An impeachment and conviction in Congress would lead to disbarment.

[pittfan]

its imperative that the facts be followed to their ultimate conclusion and prsecute the lawbreakers no exception dem or rep

[dems08]

Call his chicken arse in front of Congress.

He'll resign.

[ChaoticGood]

How can we leave someone on the bench who has either been coerced into writing a defense of torture. Or worse yet, maybe he believes in it. Either way, he does not deserve to be a judge. I guess if he is a republican, none of that matters. I guess it's like a conversation I had with an elderly woman who just worships GWB. When I asked her if torture mattered to her. She said that she did not have to worry because she never did anything wrong and she voted Republican. So I guess she is one of the "safe" ones.

[Jaybot]

Keep the cameras rolling. At some point during the removal of Judge Bybee, Orrin Hatch's head will finally explode. I'm sure it will make a most excellent DreamScene loop.

[HHarvey]

I'm a CA democrat and I am against this. My feeling is that Bybee is just a fall guy. The new Scooter Libby if you will. The real culprits are Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush but don't think for one minute that they are going to jail because the reality is that it just won't happen and that is that! This is a complete distraction from Obama's agenda and could ultimitely hurt the democratic party in 2012. I think it's important to put rules in place to NEVER let this happen again and move forward. This is a distraction from moving the country out of an economic recession.

[HyperInfluential]

George W. Bush and Co. are going to jail, for real, and the sooner everyone gets used to the idea, the better. If they do not go to one of our jails, the other allies who signed the Geneva Convention will be compelled by law to arrest the criminals themselves. I for one think it's better if we prosecute them in-house, but if we fail to do so, prosecutions will go forward regardless.

[pjburke]

I agree. To the degree that the system falls short of what the law requires, should we allow it to fall short... that is the degree to which our system has been corrupted beyond repair.

Torture -- the social acceptance of it -- is the proverbial 'canary in the coal mine' indicating the impending descent into barbarous, genocidal tyranny... the end of America, for real. The dumb-as-dirt torture apologists just don't understand that if torture can be used anywhere, then it can be used everywhere... even on them.

First they came...

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

Then they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me.

-- Pastor Martin Niemöller
__________­__________­__________­_______

When the outlaw gang that robbed the bank is still drinking in the saloon, raping the bar girls, and shooting up the town at will and the sheriff is too much of a wimp to even attempt arresting them, there is no law and order... there's only outlaw and disorder.

[dems08]

Memo by the 'fall guy':

"Physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death."

[jesseandrews]

so iguess they will investigate pelosi seeing as how she knew and said to do more, they are opening a can of worms that will come back to bite them.when you do this once it can happen again when dems are not in power. alot here in cally of tired of the poor state leadership just look at cally to see how the rest of the country might be like. in debt already for the year and still 48 billion from last year.

[calickizzle]

so, the House minority whip was running the show in 2002?

is your brain mush?

[pjburke]

Republicans would be doing it NOW if they could.

Back when they could, it was a non-stop circus of investigation -- 24/7 -- for all eight years of the Clinton administration. An unprecedented blizzard of subpoenas fell like snowflakes on the White House. The congenitally irresponsi­ble-with-p­ublic money Republicans spent $70 million dollars on a dragnet fishing expedition -- a true partisan witch hunt -- and for all of the smoke and noise, they found nothing. So, out of frustration, they launched an illegal abuse-of-process impeachment... which was really a nakedly treasonous attempted coup d'etat.

Your threat is meaningless.

It doesn't matter whether investigations and prosecutions go forward or not...

Republicans have already proved that THEY WILL DO IT ANYWAY, regardless.

[k6007]

If he was honorable enough to sit on the bench...He would've resigned, already.

[OttotheScourge]

Bye Bye
Mis-American Guy.

[OttotheScourge]

Bye Bye Bybee.

[Oonagh]

Dump him right now... he is not a honorable judge... he is a crim i nal.

[Emlyn]

IMPEACH!

[Cil]

What is REALLY SAD, AND PREPOSTEROUS HERE, IS THE FACT,
that many US and other LINE SOLDIERS HAVE BEEN COURT
MARTIALLED FOR HAVING SUBJECTED THEIR CAPTORS TO
ACTS THAT WERE DEEMED CONTRA TO BOTH THE GENEVA
CONVENTION, AND INTERNATIONAL LAWS.

It was reported by the HIGHER UPS that these acts were committed by
ROGUE SOLDIERS and said acts were few and far between,

Would someone please tell me WHY LINE SOLDIERS SHOULD BE
HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD THAN THEIR LEADERS?

[jesseandrews]

there is a difference between iraq and the 3 in gitmo there were terrorist not covered by law but in iraq yes they are because they were under the iraq flag

[HyperInfluential]

That is not true. Our soldiers and agents are responsible for behaving Constitutionally no matter where thy find themselves or who they're interacting with. The 8th Amendment of the Constitution forbids torture.

[RRG64]

Wrong.

[felisa11]

Bybee is not fit to render judgment of any court case. They should also look at all his past judgments as well.

The man is a menace to society. I say impeach him now.