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Groups Move to Disbar Bush Lawyers Over Torture

Target Mukasey, Gonzalez, Ashcroft

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted May 18, 2009 12:42 PM CDT

(Newser) – A coalition of mostly left-leaning organizations is attempting to get a gaggle of Bush officials disbarred for sanctioning torture, the Legal Times reports. In complaints filed with five state bar associations today, the groups accuse ex-attorneys general Michael Mukasey, Alberto Gonzalez, and John Ashcroft—along with nine others—of violating professional standards, the Constitution, domestic laws, and international treaties.

“It is time to hold these lawyers accountable for violating their legal oath,” said the head of one group, saying that if the bars don’t act “they will be seen as complicit in the use of torture.” But the bars probably don’t have the resources to pursue the cases, and in one case the bar’s self-imposed statute of limitation has run out.

[Images (3)]

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John Ashcroft is sworn in on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 17, 2008, prior to testifying before the House Judiciary Committee hearing looking into administration interrogations rules. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

In this Aug. 5, 2008 file photo, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, left, talks with reporters during a news conference, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

In this Jan. 6, 2005 file photo, then-Attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales testifies during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

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Just as the bar would suspend an attorney who advised a police officer to brutalize a detained criminal defendant, the bar must suspend these attorneys for advocating the torture of war detainees. - Kevin Zeese, executive director of VoteForPeace.US

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Groups Move to Disbar Bush Lawyers Over Torture