Group Seeks Information on Whitewashed OPR Report

The Robert Jackson Steering Committee (RJSC) announced today that it has filed an appeal asking the Department of Justice to be more candid in its disclosures regarding the whitewashed Office of Professional Responsibility report into the lawyers who authored memos used by the Bush Administration’s Justice Department to justify torture. RJSC filed a Freedom of Information Request (FOIA) in January, seeking information related to the Department of Justice’s downgrading of the findings contained in the OPR report. DOJ supplied documents with heavy redactions, which RJSC believes were designed to insulate senior officials from criminal liability. They have submitted an appeal requesting fuller compliance with FOIA.

The 267-page OPR report about the “torture memo” authors was released in February, 2010, after a five-year investigation into the conduct of three former senior lawyers in DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) – Professor John Yoo, now-Judge Jay Bybee, and Steven Bradbury. The report was revised to clear Yoo, Bybee, and Bradbury of any wrongdoing. An earlier draft of the report concluded that Yoo and Bybee violated their professional responsibilities in drafting the most infamous 2002 “torture memo,” but, Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis softened the report to conclude only that they showed “poor judgment.” Under DOJ rules, “poor judgment” does not amount to professional misconduct and therefore does not trigger a referral to state bar associations for disciplinary review or, in the case of Judge Bybee, a recommendation for an impeachment inquiry.

AFJ’s film Tortured Law explains in further detail the role that Yoo, Bybee, and Bradbury played in authorizing torture, and highlights the need for accountability.The OPR report revealed new information about the Bush Administration’s decision to condone torture, and showed the need for a full-scale investigation into what led our country to torture. OPR's investigation uncovered new evidence that begins to fill in the historical record, but the facts documented in the OPR report are just the newest pieces of a puzzle that still warrants a full investigation. Because OPR only has jurisdiction over DOJ attorneys and lacks subpoena power to compel witness cooperation or document production, OPR's review of the legal work that produced the first "torture memos" was just a first step towards accountability.

Congress should reassert its oversight role and conduct further hearings about the development of torture policy in DOJ and other government agencies. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the OPR report in the spring, now the House should follow suit by holding a full hearing on the OPR report in which they question the authors of the "torture memos" as well as other players mentioned in the OPR report (including those such as John Ashcroft, who refused to voluntarily comply with the OPR investigators) about the interactions between DOJ, CIA, Department of Defense, and the White House in developing torture policy.

Piecemeal Prosecution Only One Piece of the Torture Puzzle

Two weeks ago we asked about the release of the Office of Professional Responsibility’s (OPR) report on the torture memos. Again. Many hoped that the report would be released today in tandem with the CIA inspector general’s report, but, alas, Attorney General Holder’s statement indicated that it might be some time before we see the OPR report. The absence of this report, then, keeps the focus on the actions of low-level operatives detailed by the IG report (released today by court order), rather than looking up the chain of command to people like lawyers Jay Bybee, John Yoo, and Steven Bradbury who designed the legal framework for the torture regime.

While Mr. Holder did announce the appointment of a special prosecutor today, the scope of the prosecutor’s mandate and discretion is much too narrow. As Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron observed:

We need a full-scale investigation presided over by a special prosecutor
who can operate without artificial constraints and who has the discretion to
follow the facts where the evidence leads, including up the chain of
command. No blinders should be put on a special prosecutor, and no
artificial barrier constructed to shield certain perpetrators from evidence of a
crime.

Any investigation must reject blame-shifting and include
the high-level officials who sanctioned and attempted to justify
torture, not just the individuals who carried it out. We cannot
tolerate another investigation that ignores the lawbreaking of senior
government officials without addressing the systemic problems that
led our country astray in the first place.

Call on A.G. Holder to Launch a Full-Scale Investigation of the "Torture Memos.”

Seriously, where is the OPR report?

In June we asked the question “Where is the OPR report on the torture memos?” But Attorney General Eric Holder only gave excuses for the report’s tardiness.

Senators Durbin (D-IL) and Whitehouse (D-RI) asked Attorney General Eric Holder the same question during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, but we are no closer to an answer and the report is still MIA. Nearly two months ago Holder claimed that the process was close to the end and that the report would be ready in “a matter of weeks.”

As we’ve said before, Alliance for Justice is not urging undue haste. The Department of Justice needs to get this right so we can understand how the Department went so wrong. However, this investigation began over five years ago, and we are still waiting for answers.

So we have to ask again, “Where is the OPR report on the torture memos, AG Holder?”