03:00 pm
Jay Bybee
President Obama has made it clear that he is uninterested in prosecuting those responsible for torture.
In at least one case, there is another option.
Jay Bybee, under whose name several of the torture memos appear, is now a federal judge on the 9th Circuit. As Yglesias notes,
I think the case for impeaching him on the grounds of misconduct would be pretty clear. And though as Jonathan Zasloff says, he could almost certainly round up enough pro-torture votes in the Senate to avoid removal, it’s at least something folks can be put on the record about.
Lacking enough votes didn’t stop Republicans from impeaching Bill Clinton. It shouldn’t stop Democrats from impeaching Bybee.
And frankly, were it to come to that, I think more than a few Republicans would hesitate to vote against removing someone who authorized torture. It would take seven Republicans (or eight if Franken is not yet seated) to convict.
Lugar, Voinovich, Collins, Snowe, McCain, Specter. That’s six.
Lindsay Graham has spoken out strongly against torture. Orrin Hatch has as well. Mel Martinez and Sam Brownback are retiring. McCain alone could bring more were he to speak out as forcefully on this as he has on other torture issues.
In other words, unlike Yglesias and Zasloff, I think it’s a plausibility.
Image: Wikipedia