Two progressive advocacy groups today delivered more than 140,000 petitions calling for the impeachment of Judge Jay Bybee for his role in trying to bend the law to justify the Bush administration’s torture policies when he headed the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. After authoring memos explaining how prisoners could be tortured while skirting federal law, but before the memos became public, Bybee was confirmed to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

“No lawyer who gives his clients advice about how to break the law deserves a seat on the federal judiciary,” said Debbie Liu, General Counsel at People For the American Way. “If Judge Bybee won’t resign, it’s clear that the House needs to begin impeachment proceedings.”

“Today our members are joining the growing call to impeach Jay Bybee, who turned his back on the Constitution when he signed off on memos authorizing torture. These actions make Bybee unfit to serve as a federal judge, and Congress should impeach him,” said Justin Ruben, Executive Director of MoveOn.org Political Action.

The petitions were collected by MoveOn.org Political Action and People For the American Way and delivered to the office of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers.

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Take Action!

• Sign the petition to impeach Jay Bybee here.