Wednesday, May 06, 2009

COULD WE HAVE A DISBARRED FEDERAL JUDGE?

OK, I'm confessing some ignorance (and limits to my Google skills) here. See, I'm reading this...

An internal Justice Department inquiry has concluded that Bush administration lawyers committed serious lapses of judgment in writing secret memorandums authorizing brutal interrogations but that they should not be prosecuted, according to government officials briefed on its findings.

The report by the Office of Professional Responsibility, an internal ethics unit within the Justice Department, is also likely to ask state bar associations to consider possible disciplinary action, which could include reprimands or even disbarment, for some of the lawyers involved in writing the legal opinions, the officials said.


... and I know that one of the lawyers in question is Jay Bybee, who's a federal judge and whom most lefties would like to see impeached and removed from the bench.. I guess I'd like to see that, too -- but while impeachment of Bybee seems conceivable, because impeachment requires a simple majority in the U.S. House, I'd say the chance of conviction in the Senate, which would require a two-thirds vote, is ... well, zero. Absolutely, incontrovertibly zero. Republicans are standing firm on virtually everything, and this would be a big deal, a tempest in a teapot, perfect boob bait for Fox and Limbaugh. (And surely you realize that there's no way in hell all the Senate Democrats and pseudo-Democrats will vote to convict.) There's no way in hell you'd get 67 votes to convict. So it's an exercise in futility.

So what I'm wondering is: Is it possible that Bybee might be disbarred and then stay on the bench? Does the law permit a disbarred lawyer to be a federal judge? Because if it does, that's what'll happen to Bybee, right?

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