Leahy: Torture memo judge should do 'honorable' thing and resign

From Raw Story/by David Edwards and Muriel Kane Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on Tuesday for former torture memo author Jay Bybee to resign from his current position as a federal judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In an appearance with MSNBC's Ed Schultz, Leahy explained, "If the Bush-Cheney administration told the truth about him, and he told the truth about what he did, he never would have been confirmed by the Senate. He never would have become a judge. I think the only decent and honorable thing for him to do now that these facts have come out, is to resign -- resign for the good of the judiciary." When Schultz ask what happens if Bybee does not resign, Leahy -- who had declined to answer a similar question earlier when speaking with reporters -- replied, "That would, of course, be up to the House." Under the Constitution, the House of Representatives has the sole power to initiate impeachment proceedings. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) also suggested in a statement on Tuesday that the torture memos may provide "grounds for impeachment" of Bybee. Leahy further expressed his hope that President Obama's leaving the door open to the eventual prosecution of Bush administration officials will make it possible to go after "the people who knew they were misstating the law, who knew they were giving the wrong directions," He acknowledged that "a lot of it's on the desk of [Attorney General Eric] Holder" but emphasized that "I intend to continue my investigations. ... I want to find just who directed anybody to write this kind of garbage." Leahy told Schultz that even though "so far there are no Republicans" prepared to support a bipartisan Congressional investigation, "if we don't have Republicans go along with a commission, we're going to have to do it ourselves. ... This is not going to go away." This video is from MSNBC's The Ed Show, broadcast Apr. 21, 2009.