Bybee lobbies Nevada congressional delegation ‘to tell his side of the story.’

[babylonsister]

:popcorn: This should be interesting...


http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/07/bybee-nevada-delegation/

Bybee lobbies Nevada congressional delegation ‘to tell his side of the story.’

The Las Vegas Sun reports that torture architect — and 9th Circuit appellate judge — Jay Bybee has reached out to members of Nevada’s congressional delegation “to tell his side of the story.” Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV) and Shelley Berkley (D-NV) have both been contacted by representatives of Bybee:

Titus said Wednesday that no meeting has been scheduled. But she said she hopes to hear Bybee out — and to share her concerns.

“I’d like to hear from him if he thinks he made the right decision interpreting the law and doing the job as he saw it defined,” Titus said Wednesday. “But I also will not hesitate to make it clear to him that I absolutely disagree with his interpretation. The United States is not a country of torture.” <…>

Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley’s office was also contacted by Bybee’s representative in April. Berkley’s spokesman said the two have not met, and he was unsure whether they would.

“This was torture, in her mind,” spokesman David Cherry said. “I don’t know if there’s anything he could say to her at this point that would change her thinking.”

While Bybee is interested in talking to Nevada’s delegation, he refuses to respond to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) invitation to give testimony before the committee. A New York Times editorial today again calls for the impeachment of Bybee. “The memos he wrote or signed made it clear that he was not fit to make judgments about the law and the Constitution,” the NYT writes. “Congress should remove him.”