Yoo and Bybee cleared by DOJ
January 31, 2010 at 4:54 pm by Andrea FloresOn Friday, Newsweek reported that John Yoo and his former boss Jay Bybee will be cleared of violating professional standards when providing the Bush administration with their torture memos. According to the article, the report by the DOJ’s office of Professional Responsibility, which is still going through declassification, describes Yoo’s and Bybee’s behavior as showing “poor judgment” but not as professional misconduct. The article cites two unnamed sources who claim to have seen the report.
The article explains that the final document is a less severe version of an earlier report which stated that Yoo and Bybee both breached their professional obligation as lawyers when they created the 2002 memo that approved the use of harsh interrogation tactics.
The shift is significant: the original finding would have triggered a referral to state bar association for potential disciplinary action- which, in Bybee’s case, could have led to an impeachment inquiry.
Tags: accountability, DOJ, Jay Bybee, John Yoo, torture
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February 4th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
[...] This past Friday, two months after the promised release date of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) report on memos written by former Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) lawyers, Newsweek broke the story that none of the offending lawyers would be charged with “professional misconduct.” Instead, each would be reproached for “poor judgment,” a finding that does not force bar associations to consider disciplinary action. [...]