Judge (Jay Bybee) takes step to air his views [View All]

Source: Las Vegas Sun

UNLV fellow, Bush memo author seeks to meet Titus

Washington — As criticism of federal appellate court Judge Jay Bybee mounts for authorizing harsh interrogation techniques as a Bush administration lawyer, the Nevada jurist has reached out to members of the state’s congressional delegation, apparently to tell his side of the story.

The step suggests that Bybee believes maintaining the judicial branch’s customary distance from the political process is no longer in his best interest. Congress has the power to remove him from his seat on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Bybee has remained mostly quiet despite his rising profile as the former Justice Department official who, in 2002, signed off on a department memo that sanctioned the practice of waterboarding, which critics say is torture.

After the Obama administration released the memos written by Bybee and two other Justice Department lawyers on April 16, opponents of the interrogation tactics began calling for his impeachment by Congress.

Read more: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/may/07/judge-takes-step-air-his-views/