Somebody’s Worried

by digby

I get the feeling that most “serious” people don’t take the move to impeach Jay “The Torture Judge” Bybee seriously. (It’s playing of the blame game and being so vengeful and all.) But what with him being accused of war crimes in Spain and people poring over his OLC memos with appalled disgust and incredulity, he does have need of a good lawyer. Anything could happen:

The Obama Administration assured CIA employees Thursday that they would not be prosecuted, but the White House has offered no cover to Bybee or other government lawyers.

So for now, Bybee is on his own. The good news, however, he’s got a nationally recognized lawyer on his side, Latham & Watkins’s Maureen Mahoney, who’s handling the case pro bono. In an e-mail Thursday, Mahoney said Bybee has recused himself from Latham cases, but offered no further comment on his case.

Of course Rahm said yesterday that Obama didn’t want to prosecute any former officials. But it’s not really Obama’s decision and it certainly isn’t Rahm’s. And the fact that they are out there saying it is — for political reasons no less (“national unity” etc) — means it behooves Holder to appoint a special prosecutor.

Bybee certainly seems to understand that he’s got some issues if he has one of the top conservative lawyers in the country as his defense lawyer. He’s smarter than he seems.

You can sign the petition to have the California Democratic Party Convention vote to impeach Bybee, here.