*Department Of Justice Finds That Its Torture Lawyers Engaged In
Professional Misconduct By Advocating Torture During The Bush Administration
DisbarTortureLawyers Campaign To File OPR Report Today To Supplement
Fifteen Disbarment Complaints*
Late Friday, the Department of Justice issued its long-awaited report on
the actions of the DOJ lawyers who authored the infamous legal memos
authorizing torture. The report consists of two parts: the first is a
300-page report from the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility
finding that the attorneys, specifically John Yoo and Jay Bybee, engaged
in "professional misconduct." The second is a 69-page cover letter from
career DOJ staffer David Margolis finding that the lawyers exercised
"poor judgment." The OPR finding would under normal circumstances
require transmittal to the state bar for disciplinary proceedings.
However, Mr. Margolis, a 17-year employee of the DoJ who was in a
supervisory position when the legal memos were written, has specifically
refused to allow the OPR report to be transmitted. However, he did
state that "[t]he bar associations in the District of Columbia or
Pennsylvania can choose to take up this matter, but the Department will
make no referral."
Today, DisbarTortureLawyers.com campaign attorney Kevin Zeese will file
the DOJ/OPR findings with the various state bar disciplinary committees.
These committees are already reviewing the complaints he filed last
summer against 15 of the most culpable torture lawyers as part of a a
campaign to ensure accountability for their heinous actions. He is
asking that disbarment proceedings proceed quickly in light of these new
reports.
"The Department of Justice, through the actions of DOJ attorney David
Margolis, wants to keep the OPR report from reaching the various
disciplinary committees that have active disbarment complaints pending,"
said attorney and campaign spokesperson Kevin Zeese. "Fortunately, we
are not bound by the DOJ's obstructions, and will therefore be filing
the OPR report with the disciplinary boards today. And of course, as
Mr. Margolis admits, those boards are required to make an independent
determination of the information and evidence in the report. Moreover,
even if the boards only considered Margolis' finding of "poor judgment,"
they can still order disbarment. But in combination with the OPR report
and all the other overwhelming information we have already provided, we
believe that the boards will find that the torture attorneys, such as
John Yoo, Jay Bybee, David Addington, William Haynes, Alberto Gonzales
and Stephen Bradbury, must be disbarred."
DisbarTortureLawyers will also be taking the following actions in the
coming weeks:
* Working with the House and Senate to hold hearings on torture and
whether political pressure entered into the Margolis decision
* Launching a campaign for lawyers in the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals, where Jay Bybee is a judge, to file to disqualify him
from any cases to which he is assigned
* Working with jurisdictions outside the U.S. to indict the torture
lawyers and others like Dick Cheney for violating the UN
Convention Against Torture
* Increasing pressure for torture accountability through an
aggressive media campaign
* Seeking legal counsel to file a Writ of Mandamus to compel
prosecution of torturers as required by the UN Convention Against
Torture
* Teaming with even more organizations to help multiply the effect
of its work
The campaign urges organizations and individuals to sign on to the
campaign at www.disbartorturelawyers.com.
Source: DisbarTortureLawyers.com
Ilene Proctor PR
(310) 858-6643
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News
From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground,
please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support.
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [email protected] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.
For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
