Deadline for Bush lawyers to respond to (DOJ) probe passes

[sabra]

Source: CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Justice Department has told Congress the deadline has passed for Bush administration attorneys who wrote the so-called "torture memos" to respond to a crucial internal investigation of the lawyers' performance.

But the department late Monday hedged on making the nearly completed investigation report public.

Sources familiar with the much-anticipated report by the Justice Department's ethics unit, known as the Office of Professional Responsibility, said it is sharply critical of the authors of the controversial policies.

Bush administration lawyers, including Jay Bybee, John Yoo and Steven Bradbury, had been given an opportunity to respond.

...

If the report is made public as Democratic lawmakers demand, it is certain to play a role in decisions such as whether to seek prosecutions of the former Justice Department officials, whether to appoint an outside counsel to explore criminal charges, whether to establish a so-called congressionally mandated truth commission and whether to call for more Capitol Hill hearings.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/05/justice.torture.memos.deadline/

[gratuitous]

1. They don't have an answer

Publish the investigative report, and draw every inference against the torture memo authors. They had their chance to respond and didn't do so. We can only assume the worst about their motives, their meanings, and their output. It's the only fair interpretation, because if they had a defensible argument, they would have submitted it to the Justice Department investigators.

[Gman]

2. Silently pleading the 5th

[grasswire]

3. someone must leak it, then

If it won't be published, it must be leaked. This withholding of information from the public for political reasons is outrageous.

[ananda]

4. Ano;ther sarcastic 'quel surprise'!

The rule of law in this country is meaningless
until Dems can muster up the will to enforce
it against Reeps in the Bush admin and other
officials who consider themselves above the law.

So far, they can't.

[Blackhatjack]

5. This creates an immediate, significant problem for US Ct of Appeals Judge Bybee...

Lawyers and Judges are subject to sanction for actions that are not illegal but which violate ethical rules of conduct.

The failure of Bybee to respond to the OPR investigation and report is similar to invoking the right to remain silent pursuant to the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

It will be impossible for Bybee to stay on the Ct of Appeals bench while there is an official OPR report that details his wrongdoing, which is going to spark further action by Congress to deal with that wrongdoing.

The key here is the degree of ethical/legal violations alleged in the OPR report. Sanctions available will include anything from a letter of warning to disbarment--which would disqualify him from his present position.

Bybee may yet respond to the OPR report 'after the deadline' and after he has had a chance to read the entire report and Congress' reaction to it.

[riderinthestorm]

6. K and R for some interesting feedback. I hope Bybee is impeached.

This can't be good for his long term survival as a judge if you ask me but I'm no legal expert so I'm glad for your input.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Who would sanction him and has there been any rumblings of that happening?

Please please please say yes.....

In fact, tho..
has ABA come down on any Bush lawyer or other Republican who committed foul play?

[Blackhatjack]

9. The ABA is a voluntary professional organization. State Bars are the power wielders here...

To be a licensed attorney or judge, you are required to be a member of a State Bar of the State in which you are practicing or sitting as a judge.

Bybee is subject to investigation and sanction by the State Bar where he is admitted and active. Some States, like North Carolina, have a judicial standards commission which investigates and regulates the conduct of sitting judges throughout the State of North Carolina.

This is just an educated guess, but I would expect that a grievance will be filed against Bybee with the State Bar with which Bybee is an active member. Bybee will be notified and asked to participate in the investigation by providing all documents and information they require. At that point Bybee can refuse based upon a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination --but that would trigger a guaranteed sanction against him for failing to voluntarily cooperate under State rules governing lawyer conduct. I know the NC State Bar brings out the hammer when a lawyer refuses to cooperate, and the likely result is a suspension of the right to practice law or disbarment from the practice of law. If that happened in Bybee's case, he would no longer possess the minimum qualifications to sit as a judge on the US Court of Appeals.

Suspended or disbarred attorneys are not allowed to sit as judges in any court with which I am familiar.

[DebbieCDC]

8. Guess they have nothing to say so their memos speak for them

Scum