Litigation

A Well-Intended ?Jihad??

By Charlie Hall

A very troublesome suggestion to impeach federal judge Jay Bybee (left). first floated in a Slate magazine column in January, has gained support from Credo Action, a progressive organization. Its new online form enables visitors to contact Congress to urge impeachment.

As noted in a Gavel Grab entry by Bert Brandenburg, Justice at Stake’s executive director, impeachment of judges should be limited to criminal acts or other grave ethical failures in the performance of judicial duties, and should not be used in disputes over policy. Bybee is being targeted for his role, prior to being appointed judge, in drafting Bush administration memos that championed a broad expansion of presidential powers, including memos that helped justify harsh interrogation of detainees.

As Brandenburg wrote:

Professor Ackerman wants to drop the atomic bomb of our political system on Judge Bybee for helping to author legal opinions that he describes as ?extreme,? ?legally incompetent,? and ?poorly reasoned.? Impeachment criteria like these could clear the bench pretty quickly, especially as enforced by legislators pandering to their angriest political supporters.

It was not so long ago that Congressman Tom DeLay called for widespread impeachment of judges, bragging about a file cabinet full of targets. He said that judges ?need to be intimidated? into upholding the Constitution. It took public backlash to Congressional overreaching in the Terri Schiavo case to curb the anti-court jihad.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 10, 2009 (boomark / email).