A former law professor at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center has become a controversial figure for his role in drafting legal documents authorizing the Bush administration’s use of harsh interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists.
From 1991-1998, Jay Bybee, currently a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth District, was on faculty at the law center and taught administrative law, constitutional law and civil procedure.
Bybee served in the United States Justice Department as assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Council from Nov. 2001-March 2003, where he signed a number of legal memos concerning harsh interrogation techniques used by the Bush administration against detained terrorists.
The controversy picked up steam on April 26 when the Department of Justice made public memos drafted during the Bush administration about the legal justifications for the interrogation techniques — many signed by Bybee.
Since then, a national debate has emerged largely along partisan lines about the legal definitions of torture — and some have targeted Bybee for his role in drafting what critics call the “torture memos.”
John Podesta, former White House chief of staff for President Bill Clinton and former co-chairman of the Obama-Biden tranistion team, sent a letter on April 26 to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Coyners, D-Mich., calling for the congressman to begin impeachment proceedings against Bybee if he doesn’t choose to resign.
“Yet, having issued opinions that violate the Constitution and concealed relevant aspects of his legal views and professional conduct from the Senate, Bybee has neither the legal nor moral authority to sit in judgment of others,” Podesta wrote.
Law center Chancellor Jack Weiss refused comment on Bybee’s actions in the OLC but said he doesn’t believe Bybee’s controversial status will have any impact on the law center’s reputation or that of its faculty.
“That’s not a serious concern,” he said.
——Contact Nate Monroe at [email protected]