The three complaints were filed in the District of Columbia because the attorneys were practicing in Washington at the time of their illegal conduct. Jurisdiction for the filings is based on the McDade Amendment, 28 U.S.C. Section 530B, which states in relevant part, "(a) An attorney for the Government shall be subject to State laws and rules, and local Federal court rules, governing attorneys in each State where such attorney engages in that attorney's duties, to the same extent and in the same manner as other attorneys in that State."
"The evidence is overwhelming that Yoo, Haynes, and Gonzales violated their oath by advocating and allowing torture against U.S. detainees," said attorney and group spokesman Kevin Zeese. "Just as a lawyer cannot ethically advise a police officer to torture a criminal defendant, a government lawyer cannot ethically advise a government employee to torture a detainee. In both cases, the lawyers would be in violation of the law, and would be subject to disbarment. We strongly urge the Department of Justice to release its own OPR investigation into the conduct of these and other attorneys who provided cover for the wholesale use of torture by our government. We are hopeful that the investigation supports our call for disbarment."
Disbar Torture Lawyers has filed bar complaints against 15 lawyers involved in the Bush torture program. These complaints and the three new complaints and supporting documents are posted at www.disbartorturelawyers.com.
SOURCE www.DisbarTortureLawyers.com
and, c/o Legal Ethics Forum:Â
On November 27th a group of lawyers filed complaints with the Washington, D.C. Board of Professional Responsibility to disbar William Haynes II, John Choon Yoo, and Alberto Gonzales for their participation in the torture memos. Haynes was the former General Counsel for the Department of Defense, while Yoo was the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice. The group, Velvet Revolution, had already made similar complaints to Boards of Professional Responsibility in DC, California, Pennsylvania, Texas, and New York. Links to all of the complaints are below.
Jay Bybee-District of Columbia Bar Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
Douglas Feith-District of Columbia Bar Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
David Addington-District of Columbia Bar Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)Stephen Bradbury-District of Columbia Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
Michael Chertoff-District of Columbia Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
John Ashcroft-District of Columbia Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
Timothy Flanigan-District of Columbia Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)Alice Fisher-District of Columbia Bar Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
William Haynes-California Bar Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
John Yoo- Pennsylvania Bar Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
Alberto Gonzales-Texas Bar Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)Michael Mukasey-New York Bar Microsoft Word (.doc) Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)
William Haynes - District of ColumbiaAdobe Acrobat (.pdf)
John Yoo - District of ColumbiaAdobe Acrobat (.pdf)
Alberto Gonzales - District of ColumbiaAdobe Acrobat (.pdf)
Velvet Revolution argue that these attorneys repeatedly advocated for interrogation techniques in violation of US and international law. The group claims to have over a million members nationally, and represent more than 150 organizations. In addition to disbarring these attorneys, the group hopes to spark an open discussion of torture and how it has been used. Although they don't necessarily cite to a specific ethical rule in each complaint, the message is clear. Only time and the respective Boards of Professional Conduct will tell whether the complaints have any merit.
This post originally published on JoshCamson.com.
