”Impeach, Disbar, Prosecute Judge Jay Bybee,” Say SF Activists

Outside San Francisco’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, activists dressed as prisoners kneel before the World Can’t Wait’s makeshift ”˜Bush-Bybee Museum of Torture” with placards describing torture methods authorized by Jay Bybee while he worked for the Bush administration. Staff photo Phil Pasquini

In a protest held once a month outside the James R. Browning United States Courthouse while the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is in session, members of the World Can’t Wait and Code Pink, along with other Bay Area activists, are demanding the removal of Judge Jay Bybee. They contend the jurist has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by helping formulate the legal decisions behind the interrogation methods used on so-called enemy combatants and other prisoners after 9/11.

“Torture is torture,” Code Pink’s Cynthia Papermaster told the crowd outside the courthouse Aug. 13. “Torture is illegal. Torture is wrong. I don’t care if you call it ”˜enhanced interrogation technique’—it’s illegal! This judge should be ashamed to sit in judgment of anyone and he must be prosecuted by the Department of Justice.”

Prior to his nomination to the Circuit Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush and confirmation by the Senate in March 2003, Bybee served as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. In that capacity, he responded to a CIA request for a legal opinion on the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment of Punishment concerning detainee interrogation.

In his 50-page “Memorandum for Alberto R. Gonzalez, Counsel to the President,” otherwise known as the “Bybee” or “Torture” memo, Bybee concluded that the Convention Against Torture prohibits only “extreme acts.” He also stated in his memorandum that “for an act to constitute torture...it must inflict pain that is difficult to endure.” To any ordinary individual, waterboarding of any length would be “difficult to endure,” but Bybee considered less than 40 seconds to be allowable. He also provided legal justification for sleep deprivation of up to 11 days and “walling” (slamming a prisoner’s head against a wall). Bybee’s then-colleague John Yoo also authored additional “torture” memoranda (see July 2009 Washington Report, p. 44).

Federal District Judge Jeffrey White ruled on June 12 that Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen convicted of criminal conspiracy charges and currently serving a 17-year prison term, and his mother could proceed with their civil lawsuit against Yoo for formulating legal decisions that led to Padilla’s torture as a detainee and violation of his constitutional rights. Yoo’s appeal of Judge White’s decision, Code Pink’s Papermaster pointed out, may be argued before the Ninth Circuit Court.

—Elaine Pasquini