Bybee's nomination to the 9th Circuit and his writing of the memo that enabled the Bush administration's implementation of its torture policy.
It is possible that Bybee;s nomination for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was in a sense, his reward for the memo and who knows what other favors he did for the Bush administration.
Was there a quid pro quo? Who knows. If there was, it probably could not be proved or disproved. Undeniably, however, the nomination to the 9th Circuit rapidly followed the writing of the memo.
As is well known, Justice Hugo Black was a member of the Klu Klux Klan before being appointed to the Supreme Court.
Black joined the Ku Klux Klan while still a young man in Alabama, thinking it necessary for his political career.<8> Running for the Senate as the "people's" candidate, Black believed he needed the votes of Klan members, who were usually poor wage earners, economic and political underdogs.<9> Black would near the end of his life admit that joining the Klan was a mistake, but said "I would have joined any group if it helped get me votes."<9>
. . . .
The next day the full Senate considered Black's nomination.<18> Rumors relating to Black's involvement in the Ku Klux Klan surfaced among the senators,<19> and Democratic Senators Royal S. Copeland and Edward R. Burke urged the Senate to defeat the nomination. However, no conclusive evidence of Black's involvement was available at the time, so after six hours of debate, the Senate voted 63-16 to confirm Black - ten Republicans and six Democrats voted against Black.<19> He resigned from the Senate and was sworn in as an Associate Justice two days later; Black would later explain that the haste in resigning was to avoid fallout from his Klan membership potentially going public.<21> Alabama Governor Bibb Graves appointed his wife, Dixie B. Graves, to fill Black's vacated seat.
The next month, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette investigated Black's KKK past.<21> Ray Sprigle won a Pulitzer Prize for his series of articles revealing Black's involvement in the Klan. Press criticism ranged from publications like Time to The New York Times.<22> However, the controversy soon subsided; the criticism was highly partisan and polls showed that the attacks had little effect on public opinion of Black.<22> Black also addressed public concerns in person: "I did join the Klan. I later resigned. I never rejoined... Before becoming a Senator I dropped the Klan. I have had nothing to do with it since that time. I abandoned it. I completely discontinued any association with the organization. I have never resumed it and never expect to do so."<23>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_BlackThere is no basis on which anyone could question whether any Supreme Court justice might possibly have been appointed BECAUSE he was a member of the Klu Klux Klan.
And that is the problem with Bybee. The question can probably never be answered, and Bybee may be doing a very good job on the 9th Circuit, but the question will haunt his tenure as a judge: Was there a link, however, tenuous between Bybee's nomination to the 9th Circuit and his writing of the memo justifying toture? Is it so much as possible that Bybee's name was recognized among those of potential nominees because he wrote the memo?
And just as his nomination is tainted, every opinion he writes will be tainted.
Whether fair or just, Bybee will have great difficulty serving effectively on the 9th Circuit. He will not be able to avoid being viewed by some, perhaps even some of his colleagues, as a "political opportunist" who compromised his moral integrity to further his career.
Moral depravity, lack of judgment, intellectual dishonesty, sloppy scholarship, cowardice -- these are the traits that the torture memos reveal about their authors. That is why Bybee must resign or be impeached. It is very sad, but opportunists take risks, and Bybee should have realized that when he signed the memo.
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