Lawyers Exercised Poor Judgment in Torture Memos

By Stephen Kopko

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON D.C., United States – The United States Department of Justice released a report on Friday regarding the conduct of two Bush administration lawyers during the War on Terror.  The lawyers, Jay Bybee and John Yoo, wrote legal memoranda arguing for the use of certain interrogation techniques by U.S. intelligence officials.  While the report questioned their reasoning, it stated that the lawyers should not face any disciplinary action.

Jay Bybee was the head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel and Yoo was his deputy during the beginning of the War on Terror.  They wrote legal memoranda authorizing the use of certain interrogation tactics such as water boarding.  The memos also stated that the President may not follow laws prohibiting torture. They argued that those who used the interrogation tactics be shielded from prosecution. The substance of the memos was discovered in 2004 and caused a stir among many elected officials in Washington D.C. Many investigations began in 2004 examining the legal reasoning used in the memos.

The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility originally found Bybee and Yoo did not follow past precedents against torture and gave poor legal advice.  It found that the lawyers engaged in “professional misconduct.”  The ethics report also stated that the lawyers were pressured by Bush Administration officials to find legal authority allowing for the use of the interrogation techniques.

Despite the findings of the Office of Professional Responsibility, the Justice Department determined that Bybee and Yoo did not engage in professional misconduct but exercised poor judgment.  The report, written by Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis, stated that the lawyers were under pressure at the time they wrote the memos.  The pressure affected their judgment and legal analysis.  However, their actions did not amount to professional misconduct and disciplinary sanctions and proceedings should not be pursued against them for exercising poor judgment.

The report was sent to both the House of Representatives and the Senate.  House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers stated that the report shows that the Bush Administration curtailed domestic and international law in allowing torture.  The same sentiment was echoed by Chairman Patrick Leahy of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Currently, Bybee is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Yoo is a professor of law at the University of California, Berkley.

For more information, please see:

Wall Street Journal – Lawyers Cleared Over 9/11 Memos – 20 February 2010

MSNBC – No misconduct by interrogation lawyers – 19 February 2010

NY Times – Justice Department Report Finds John Yoo and Jay Bybee Not Guilty of Misconduct – 19 February 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive