I am the Public Policy Director for the Courage Campaign
When I read the torture memos that President Obama released, I was shocked, but I can’t say I was too surprised. Nevertheless, the details are horrifying. Waterboarding a detainee 83 times in a month, cramped confinement, putting “stinging insects” into a box with a detainee, and “walling” – throwing someone’s head into a wall – these are the things that Jay Bybee’s August 2002 memo approved. In 2003, Bybee was nominated and confirmed to a seat on the all-important 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Since the release of that memo a broad movement has emerged demanding the impeachment of Judge Bybee. Our own David Dayen has taken the lead in organizing the netroots behind this effort, creating an online petition to gather support behind the impeachment resolution passed by the LA County Democratic Party that will be taken up at this weekend’s California Democratic Party convention.
Last Friday David Dayen asked the Courage Campaign to join the grassroots effort to impeach Jay Bybee by helping pass this resolution. And we were happy to participate. Today we emailed our members asking them to sign up as supporters of the CDP impeach Bybee resolution.
The email we sent references the powerful NYT editorial calling for Bybee’s impeachment. Since then Congressman Jerry Nadler, who chairs the House Subcomittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and is a ranking Dem on the House Judiciary Committee, has announced his support of the impeachment of Jay Bybee:
“He ought to be impeached,” Nadler said in an interview with the Huffington Post. “It was not an honest legal memo. It was an instruction manual on how to break the law.”…
“Any special prosecutor on torture would have to look at the authors of those torture memos,” said Nadler. “And certainly you have real grounds to impeach him once the special prosecutor took a good look at that. I think there ought to be an impeachment inquiry looked at in any event. Which should happen first, I’m not sure.”…
“[Bybee] should be a target. Yoo should be a target. There are a number of targets,” said Nadler, referring to for Bush administration counsel John Yoo, who also authorized torture and is now a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Bybee, noted Nadler, “is the only one who’s a federal court judge now.”
The momentum is building. Please add to it and help push the House to launch an impeachment effort by signing your name to the CDP resolution.
Over the flip is the email we sent to our members.
“To read the four newly released memos on prisoner interrogation written by George W. Bush’s Justice Department is to take a journey into depravity…..They were written to provide legal immunity for acts that are clearly illegal, immoral and a violation of this country’s most basic values….These memos make it clear that (Judge Jay) Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution. Congress should impeach him.” — Editorial in the New York Times, Sunday, April 19
Dear Robert,
Will you help grassroots activists put the California Democratic Party on record against the torture memos and the man who helped write them?
The memos, released last week by President Obama, describe in horrifying detail the shocking and inhuman tactics used to torture the detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison camp. One of the memos was written by Jay Bybee in August 2002.
Bybee’s memo authorized the use of waterboarding, “cramped confinement”, “walling” — where a detainee’s head is repeatedly pushed against a wall — and even putting insects into a confined space with a detainee.
Instead of being brought to justice for his authorization of these illegal and unconscionable acts, Jay Bybee is now a judge here in California, serving a lifetime appointment on the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco. Judge Bybee is in a position to make rulings regarding the rights and freedoms of Californians — and his decisions can only be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
That isn’t right, and that isn’t justice.
Grassroots and netroots activists are demanding Bybee be held accountable for his role in President Bush’s illegal torturing of detainees. Last Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party approved a resolution written by progressive Democrats John Heaner, Agi Kessler and Richard Mathews to demand that the House of Representatives begin impeachment proceedings against Bybee.
This weekend, this resolution will be considered for action at the California Democratic Party convention.
Will you build the movement to impeach Judge Jay Bybee? A growing group of progressive grassroots activists need your support for this impeachment resolution. Please sign on now and show your support before the California Democratic Party convention. DEADLINE: Friday at 9 AM:
http://www.couragecampaign.org…
Reading those memos made me sick. And they made me angry. As a delegate to the California Democratic Party convention, I am determined to ensure that my party takes a stand and demands that Jay Bybee be held accountable for the damage he has done to our rule of law.
We need the Californian Democratic Party to stand up for the Constitution. Every signature from a Courage Campaign member that we can bring to the Convention is another voice that will amplify the call for justice and help grassroots activists ensure the resolution’s passage.
The movement to impeach Jay Bybee is growing rapidly. Since Tuesday, the resolution has been endorsed by the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, Progressive Democrats of America, the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley, and a growing list of California Democratic Party delegates. Calitics blogger David Dayen is also helping build a netroots coalition to publicize and support the resolution to impeach Bybee.
Now these progressive activists need your help in getting the resolution approved. Please sign your name to the resolution calling for Bybee’s impeachment — and ask your family and friends to sign it as well:
http://www.couragecampaign.org…
Thank you for taking a stand for the rule of law and to restore justice.
Robert Cruickshank
Public Policy Director