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Bush Lawyers Face Calls for Dismissal

But disbarring Yoo or impeaching Bybee is an uphill battle

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted May 7, 2009 7:00 AM CDT

(Newser) – The Justice Department has signaled it won't prosecute the Bush administration lawyers who approved interrogation tactics widely considered to be torture, but they may have trouble keeping their jobs. A forthcoming report from the DoJ will recommend possible disciplinary action by state bar associations for the Bush lawyers, sources tell the AP. Jay Bybee, currently an appeals court judge, is facing calls for his impeachment, while students and faculty at Berkeley, where John Yoo now teaches, want him fired and disbarred.

"We believe there is a lot of evidence to suggest that war crimes were committed," says one activist. But legal experts tell the Washington Post that state investigators face "nearly insurmountable challenges," including a lack of subpoena power. Unless they can demonstrate that Yoo and Bybee provided advice that was illegal, and not merely poor, a case is unlikely to proceed.

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John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this Thursday, June 26, 2008 file photo. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Jay Bybee testifies before a congressional committee investigating ties between the agency and organized crime in Washington. (AP Photo, Evan Vucci, File)

Former Department of Justice official John Yoo testifies before the House Judiciary committee during a hearing on the administration's interrogation policy on June 26, 2008 in Washington. (Getty Images)

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John Yoo offers a defense of authorization of waterboarding and other tactics widely considered torture at this Chapman University School of Law lecture. (RobinGilbert1)

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Bush Lawyers Face Calls for Dismissal