Fast Track This! CA Dems Seek Support for Impeachment Resolution of Torture Enabler Jay Bybee; Text & Background Available Here

Note: The deadline for resolutions is this Wednesday, March 25th. Please don't delay!

Hi... Just a note to let you know that I'm organizing a resolution from the California Democratic Party to impeach Jay Bybee.

Below, please find my letter requesting support, and the resolution itself:

Friends and Fellow Members of the California Democratic Party SCC:

This e-mail is marked "urgent" because new revelations are breaking daily about Bush-sanctioned torture, and the legal opinions that underpinned this unprecedented abuse of presidential power.

Next week's "Newsweek" magazine promises that the Obama administration will soon declassify three more key memos from 2005 by Bush's Justice Department detailing "enhanced interrogation" techniques, such as "waterboarding, head-slapping and other rough tactics."

The Bush Justice Department lawyer who signed the original "Torture Memo" in 2002 now sits on the Federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. His name is Jay Bybee, and he enjoys a lifetime appointment thanks to George W. Bush.

How involved was Jay Bybee in twisting the law to allow torture?

Well, that "Torture Memo" of August 1, 2002 is also known as the "Bybee Memo." Here it is, in full.

Just Google "Jay Bybee" to learn more.

Please join me in supporting a CDP resolution to call for the impeachment of Jay Bybee, as an essential step towards bringing to justice those who ordered and supported torture as policy in the George W. Bush administration. The deadline for resolutions is Wednesday. Every DSCC member's statement of support for this resolution is important.

The Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Howard Berman, is my Congressman. With your help, we will hand-deliver to him a California Democratic Party Resolution calling for the impeachment of Jay Bybee, with all the leverage we can muster.

Please e-mail me as soon as possible to add your voice to the resolution below. E-mail: impeachbybee@gmail.com indicating your support. With your strong backing, and co-author and Resolutions Committee member Agi Kessler's help as it's debated by the committee, we'll get this done at the upcoming convention in Sacramento.

Thank you for your help in the urgent matter of stopping torture once and for all and restoring American integrity!

Sincerely,

John Heaner
Region 13 Director, CDP

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Resolution Calling For The Impeachment of Judge Jay Bybee

Whereas, the 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the people a right to petition the government for a redress
of grievances; and,

Whereas the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment, the supreme law of the land under Article VI of our Constitution, requires the prosecution of those who authorize torture, waterboarding is torture, and both former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Richard B. Cheney have admitted to authorizing waterboarding; and,

Whereas former Assistant Attorney General, and current Federal Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Jay Bybee signed the “Bybee Memo,” or “Torture Memo” of August 1, 2002, which advised the C.I.A. that “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment was at times allowable under U.S. law, and authored, co-authored and signed other memos on “extraordinary rendition“ and “enhanced interrogation,” more of which are being currently revealed to the American public as the new administration brings them to light; now,

Therefore be it resolved that the California Democratic Party urges that the United States House of Representatives begin impeachment proceedings against Judge Jay Bybee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, charging him with facilitating the authorization of torture while employed by the United States Department of Justice; and,

Therefore be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution with its original authorization be sent to the Office of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, and that copies of the signed resolution be sent to each member of the California delegation to the United States Senate and House of Representatives.

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To view the supporters of the Impeachment Resolution of Federal Justice Jay Bybee, click here.