Jay Bybee
{{Short description|American judge (born 1953)}}
{{use mdy dates |date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| honorific-suffix =
| image = Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, official portrait.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Bybee in 2002
| office = Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
| term_start = December 31, 2019
| term_end =
| office1 = Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
| term_start1 = March 21, 2003
| term_end1 = December 31, 2019
| appointer1 = George W. Bush
| predecessor1 = Procter Ralph Hug Jr.
| successor1 = Lawrence VanDyke
| office2 = United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel
| term_start2 = November 2001
| term_end2 = March 13, 2003
| president2 = George W. Bush
| predecessor2 = Randolph D. Moss
| successor2 = Jack Goldsmith
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|10|27}}
| birth_place = Oakland, California, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education = Brigham Young University (BA, JD)
| deputy2 = John Yoo
}}
Jay Scott Bybee (born October 27, 1953) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a senior U.S. circuit judge of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has published numerous articles in law journals and has taught as a senior fellow in constitutional law at William S. Boyd School of Law.{{Cite web|url=https://law.unlv.edu/content/honorable-jay-s-bybee |title=The Honorable Jay S. Bybee |publisher=UNLV |work=William S. Boyd School of Law |access-date=October 20, 2021 }} His primary research interests are in constitutional and administrative law.{{cite web |title=Bybee publication list at University of Nevada, Las Vegas |url=https://law.unlv.edu/faculty/publications/jay-bybee |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606125336/http://www.law.unlv.edu/files/Bybee_publications.pdf |archive-date=6 June 2010 |access-date=19 September 2021}}
While serving in the Bush administration as the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, Bybee signed the controversial "Torture Memos" in August 2002. These authorized "enhanced interrogation techniques" were used in the systematic torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay detention camp beginning in 2002 and at the Abu Ghraib facility following the United States' invasion of Iraq in 2003. These actions have widely been considered to be war crimes, including by other former members of the Bush administration.{{cite magazine| url=https://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/04/secret-torture-memo/ | magazine=Wired | first=Spencer | last=Ackerman | title=CIA Committed 'War Crimes,' Bush Official Says | date=4 April 2012}}
Early life and education
Born in Oakland, California, Bybee was raised in Clark County, Nevada. His family subsequently moved to Nashville, Tennessee, then Louisville, Kentucky.{{cite magazine |last=James |first=Randy |date=April 28, 2009 |title=Jay Bybee: The Man Behind Waterboarding |url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1894309,00.html |url-status=dead |magazine=TIME |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501003536/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1894309,00.html |archive-date=May 1, 2009}} He graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1977, majoring in economics.{{cite news |last=Irvine |first=David |date=April 29, 2009 |title=LDS lawyers, psychologists had a hand in torture policies |work=Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/ci_12256286 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301090557/http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_12256286 |archive-date=2012-03-01}}{{cite web|url=http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Jay_S._Bybee|title=WhoRunsGov: The best political profiles on the web|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091125074258/http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Jay_S._Bybee|archive-date=2009-11-25}} He earned his Juris Doctor cum laude{{cite web|url=http://www.law.unlv.edu/faculty/jay-bybee.html |title=Jay Bybee description from University of Nevada, Las Vegas |access-date=27 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410163940/http://www.law.unlv.edu/faculty/jay-bybee.html |archive-date=10 April 2009 }} from BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1980. While in law school, he served on the editorial board of the BYU Law Review. Bybee spent one year as law clerk to Judge Donald S. Russell of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.{{cite web|title=Jay S. Bybee Biography|url=http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2981|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060117201439/http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2981|archive-date=2006-01-17|publisher=GPO|work=Federal Judicial Center}}
Career
= Academics =
From 1991 to 1999, Bybee taught at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University. Subsequently, he was a founding faculty member of the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he taught from 1999 to 2001. At both schools, he taught constitutional law, administrative law, and civil procedure. In 2000, Bybee was voted Professor of the Year.{{cite web |last=Johnson |first=Page |date=2003 |title=Jay S. Bybee Named to Ninth Circuit Court |url=http://www.meridianmagazine.com/people/030708jayprint.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628151433/http://www.meridianmagazine.com/people/030708jayprint.html |archive-date=June 28, 2008 |access-date=28 January 2009 |work=Meridian Magazine}} His particular areas of expertise are civil procedure, constitutional law, and the federal courts.
= Legal scholarship =
Bybee has co-authored two books, Powers Reserved for the People and the States: A History of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments (2006) (with Thomas B. McAffee and A. Christopher Bryant), and Religious Liberty Under the Free Exercise Clause. Bybee has also written more than 20 law review articles, notes, comments, and book chapters.
= Office of Legal Counsel =
Bybee served as the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the United States Justice Department from November 2001 to March 2003.{{Cite book|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/07/print/20010710-10.html|last=Bush|first=George W.|title=President intends to nominate Jay S. Bybee to be Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel|date=July 10, 2001|via=National Archives|work=whitehouse.gov|access-date=April 26, 2009}}{{cite web|title=Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings, Jay S. Bybee Nomination to OLC|url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ntquery/z?nomis:107PN0095900:|publisher=Library of Congress|work=Congressional Record|date=23 October 2001|access-date=April 29, 2009|archive-date=January 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113171513/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ntquery/z?nomis:107PN0095900:|url-status=dead}}
== Torture memos ==
{{main|Torture Memos}}{{see also|Enhanced interrogation techniques}}
Following the September 11 attacks, the George W. Bush administration classified detainees as unlawful combatants, claiming they were not protected under the Geneva Conventions as prisoners of war. In late 2001 and early 2002, these detainees were subjected to beatings, electric shocks, exposure to extreme cold, suspension from the ceiling by their arms, and drowning in buckets of water.{{cite web |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2009/04/21/the-olc-torture-memos-thoughts-from-a-dissenter/ |title=The OLC "torture memos": thoughts from a dissenter |newspaper=Foreignpolicy.com | quote = The focus on waterboarding misses the main point of the program. Which is that it was a program. [The program was to] disorient, abuse, dehumanize, and torment individuals over time.| date=April 21, 2009 |author=Philip Zelikow |access-date= June 16, 2015}}{{Cite news |author=CBS News |title=Ex-Terror Detainee says U.S. Tortured Him |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-terror-detainee-says-us-tortured-him/ |work=60 Minutes |date=March 28, 2008 |access-date=October 26, 2014 }} An unknown number died as a result.{{Cite news |author=Glenn Greenwald |author-link=Glenn Greenwald|title=The Suppressed Facts: Death by U.S. Torture |url=https://www.salon.com/2009/06/30/accountability_7/ |work=Salon |date=June 30, 2009 |access-date=October 26, 2014 }} In April 2002, the CIA had captured its first important prisoner, Abu Zubaydah, who was transferred to a CIA black site and subjected to sleep deprivation using bright lights and loud music, all prior to any legal authorization from the US Justice Department.{{cite news |last1=Risen |first1=James |author-link=James Risen |last2=Apuzzo |first2=Matt |author-link2=Matt Apuzzo |title=C.I.A., on Path to Torture, Chose Haste Over Analysis |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/16/us/politics/cia-on-path-to-torture-chose-haste-over-analysis-.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 15, 2014 |access-date=December 16, 2014 }} Later that April, CIA contractor James Mitchell proposed a list of additional tactics, including locking people in cramped boxes, shackling them in painful positions, keeping them awake for a week at a time, covering them with insects, and waterboarding, a practice which the United States had previously characterized in war crimes prosecutions as torture.{{cite news |author=Eric Weiner|title=Waterboarding: A Tortured History|url=https://www.npr.org/2007/11/03/15886834/waterboarding-a-tortured-history |work=NPR |date=November 3, 2007 |access-date=December 15, 2014 }}{{cite news |author=Glenn Kessler |title=Cheney's Claim that the U.S did not prosecute Japanese soldiers for waterboarding |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/12/16/cheneys-claim-that-the-u-s-did-not-prosecute-japanese-soldiers-for-waterboarding/?hpid=z6 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 16, 2014 |access-date=December 16, 2014 }}
Jose Rodriguez, head of the CIA's clandestine service, asked his superiors for authorization for what Rodriguez called an "alternative set of interrogation procedures."{{cite news |first=Lesley |last=Stahl |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hard-measures-ex-cia-head-defends-post-9-11-tactics/ |title=Hard Measures: Ex-CIA head defends post-9/11 tactics |work=60 Minutes |publisher=CBS |date=April 29, 2012 |access-date=July 25, 2018 }} The CIA sought immunity from prosecution, sometimes known as a "get out of jail free card."{{cite book |author=Pugliese, Joseph |title=State Violence and the Execution of Law: Biopolitical Caesurae of Torture, Black Sites, Drones|year=2013|publisher=Routledge |page = 278 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RcGZ_x96exgC&pg=PA173 |isbn=978-0415529747 }} To this end, CIA acting General Counsel John A. Rizzo requested a legal opinion, which was routed to the OLC by White House General Counsel Alberto Gonzales, who desired the "ability to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors."{{cite book |title=Unchecked and Unbalanced: Presidential Power in a Time of Terror |first=Frederick August Otto |last=Schwarz |author2=Aziz Z. Huq |year=2007 |publisher=The New Press |location=New York City |isbn=978-1-59558-117-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/uncheckedunbalan00schw/page/78 78–81] |oclc=71286622 |url=https://archive.org/details/uncheckedunbalan00schw/page/78 }} The CIA requested an interpretation of the statutory term of "torture" as defined in {{UnitedStatesCode|18|2340}}, which implements, in part, the obligations of the United States under the 1984 United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Together with John Yoo, Bybee drafted the Torture Memos, a set of legal memoranda which gave the CIA legal cover to torture detainees using "enhanced interrogation techniques". These techniques are viewed as torture by the Justice Department,{{cite news|title=Holder Tells Senators Waterboarding Is Torture|first=David|last=Stout|date=15 January 2009|access-date=21 April 2009|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/us/politics/16holdercnd.html |work=New York Times}} Amnesty International,{{cite news|title=Amnesty International: Waterboarding Is Never Acceptable Regardless of the Circumstances|date=5 February 2009|access-date=24 May 2009|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS261101+05-Feb-2008+PRN20080205|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20100121234649/http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS261101+05-Feb-2008+PRN20080205|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 January 2010|work=Reuters}} Human Rights Watch,{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2006/04/05/open-letter-attorney-general-alberto-gonzales |title=Open Letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales |access-date=17 April 2009 |date=5 April 2006 |publisher=Human Rights Watch}} medical experts in the treatment of torture victims,{{cite magazine |first=Jane |last=Mayer |author-link=Jane Mayer |title=Outsourcing Torture |date=14 February 2005 |magazine=The New Yorker |url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/02/14/050214fa_fact6 |access-date=17 April 2009}}{{cite press release |title=Former member of UN Committee Against Torture: 'Yes, waterboarding is torture' |publisher=International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims |date=12 February 2008 |url=http://www.irct.org/Default.aspx?ID=3558&M=News&NewsID=1236 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090502050554/http://www.irct.org/Default.aspx?ID=3558&M=News&NewsID=1236 |archive-date=May 2, 2009 |access-date=21 April 2009}} intelligence officials,{{cite book |first=Stephen |last=Grey |author-link=Stephen Grey |title=Ghost plane: the true story of the CIA torture program |publisher=St. Martin's Press |location=New York City |year=2006 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ghostplanetruest00grey/page/226 226] |isbn=0-312-36023-1 |oclc=70335397 |quote=As one former CIA official, once a senior official for the directorate of operations, told me: 'Of course it was torture. Try it and you'll see.' Another, also a former higher-up in the directorate of operations, told me: 'Yes, it's torture' |url=https://archive.org/details/ghostplanetruest00grey/page/226 }} and American allies.{{cite news|title=Jay Bybee Silent on Interrogation Memos|first=Carol|last=Williams|date=1 May 2009|access-date=24 May 2009|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bybee-memo1-2009may01,0,4424427.story|work=Los Angeles Times}}
According to journalist Seymour Hersh, Bybee wrote in a memo that "for an act to constitute torture it must inflict pain...equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death."{{cite journal |title=Chain of Command |first=Seymour |last=Hersh |journal=The Physics Teacher |year=2013 |volume=51 |issue=4 |page=4|doi=10.1119/1.4795376 |bibcode=2013PhTea..51..248K }} For this and other memos, critics have called for his impeachment or resignation.{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042403888.html|title=Friends Say Judge Bybee Regrets Interrogation Memo He Signed|first=Karl|last=Vick|date=25 April 2009|via=washingtonpost.com}} Bybee and five others, known as the "Bush Six", were the subject of a war crimes investigation in Spain,{{cite magazine|title=Will a Spanish Judge Bring Bush-Era Figures to Justice?|first=Lisa|last=Abend|date=31 March 2009|access-date=24 May 2009|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1888572,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403070734/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1888572,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 3, 2009|magazine=Time}} but the government decided against prosecution in 2011.
A memo declassified in 2012 indicates that some in the Bush State Department believed that the methods were illegal under domestic and international law, and constituted war crimes. Secretary of State Colin Powell strongly opposed the invalidation of the Geneva Conventions,{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Isikoff |author-link=Michael Isikoff |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/105057 |title=Memos Reveal War Crimes Warnings |work=Newsweek |date=May 17, 2004}} and U.S. Navy general counsel Alberto J. Mora campaigned internally against what he saw as the "catastrophically poor legal reasoning" of the memo.{{cite magazine |magazine=The New Yorker |first=Jane |last=Mayer |author-link=Jane Mayer |url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/02/27/060227fa_fact |title=The Memo: How an Internal Effort to Ban the Abuse and Torture of Detainees was Thwarted |date=February 27, 2006 |access-date=April 22, 2009}} Philip D. Zelikow, former State Department adviser to Condoleezza Rice, in 2009 testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee studying the matter, "It seemed to me that the OLC interpretation of U.S. constitutional law in this area was strained and indefensible. I could not imagine any federal court in America agreeing that the entire CIA program could be conducted and it would not violate the American Constitution." Zelikow also alleged that Bush administration officials attempted to destroy his memos alleging fault in Bybee's reasoning.{{cite news
|last = Eviatar
|first = Daphne
|title = Philip Zelikow: OLC Interpretation Would Allow Waterboarding of U.S. Citizens
|publisher = The Washington Independent
|date = 2009-05-13
|url = http://washingtonindependent.com/42763/philip-zelikow-olc-interpretation-would-allow-waterboarding-of-us-citizens
|access-date = 2009-06-09
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090526162854/http://washingtonindependent.com/42763/philip-zelikow-olc-interpretation-would-allow-waterboarding-of-us-citizens
|archive-date = 2009-05-26
}}
Human Rights Watch and The New York Times editorial board have called for the prosecution of Bybee for "conspiracy to torture as well as other crimes".{{cite journal |url=https://www.hrw.org/node/283564 |title=No More Excuses: A Roadmap to Justice for CIA Torture |author= |website=hrw.org |date=December 2015 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=2015-12-02 }}{{cite news |author= |title=Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/22/opinion/prosecute-torturers-and-their-bosses.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2014-12-21 |access-date=2015-04-17 }}
== Office of Professional Responsibility investigation ==
In July 2009, after a five-year inquiry, the Office of Professional Responsibility released a report, later modified by the Justice Department, saying Bybee and his deputy John Yoo committed "professional misconduct"{{cite report|url=https://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/natsec/opr20100219/20090729_OPR_Final_Report_with_20100719_declassifications.pdf|title=Investigation into the Office of Legal Counsel's Memoranda Concerning Issues Relating to the Central Intelligence Agency's Use of "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" on Suspected Terrorists|author=Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility|first=|date=July 29, 2009|publisher=United States Department of Justice |author-link=Office of Professional Responsibility|access-date=May 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026171950/https://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/natsec/opr20100219/20090729_OPR_Final_Report_with_20100719_declassifications.pdf|archive-date=October 26, 2020}}{{rp|260}} by providing legal advice that was in possible violation of international and federal laws on torture.{{rp|255–256}} The OPR initial report recommended that both Bybee and Yoo be referred to the bar associations of the states where they were licensed for further disciplinary action and possible disbarment.{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=Carrie|title=No sanctions for Bush lawyers who approved waterboarding, report will say|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/30/AR2010013001411.html |access-date=2011-09-02 |newspaper=Washington Post|date=January 31, 2010}} The final recommendations in the report were overruled by Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis, who examined the OPR report and wrote that Bybee and Yoo had used "poor judgement"{{cite web |url=http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/DAGMargolisMemo100105.pdf |title=Memorandum of Decision Regarding the Objections to the Finding of Professional Misconduct in the Office of Professional Responsibility's Report of Investigation into the Office of Legal Counsel's Memoranda Concerning Issue Relating to the Central Intelligence Agency's Use of 'Enhanced Interrogation Techniques' on Suspected Terrorists |first=David |last=Margolis |date=January 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505040758/http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/DAGMargolisMemo100105.pdf |archive-date=May 5, 2010 |work=U.S. House of Representatives House Committee on the Judiciary |url-status=dead }}{{rp|68}} but did not "knowingly or recklessly provide incorrect legal advice or ... provide advice in bad faith."{{rp|64}}
Margolis's decision not to refer Yoo and Bybee to the bar for discipline was criticized by numerous commentators.{{cite news |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/02/john-yoo-and-jay-bybee-shouldn-t-be-home-free.html |title=David Margolis Is Wrong |first=David |last=Luban |work=Slate |date=February 22, 2010 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201223254/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/02/john-yoo-and-jay-bybee-shouldn-t-be-home-free.html |archive-date=December 1, 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/02/how-we-ve-erased-the-legal-lines-around-torture-and-replaced-them-with-nothing.html |first=Dahlia |last=Lithwick |author-link=Dahlia Lithwick |title=Torture Bored: How we've erased the legal lines around torture and replaced them with nothing |work=Slate |date=February 22, 2010 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201223504/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/02/how-we-ve-erased-the-legal-lines-around-torture-and-replaced-them-with-nothing.html |archive-date=December 1, 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |url=https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/477/ |title=The Sacrificial Yoo: Accounting for Torture in the OPR Report |journal=Journal of National Security Law & Policy |year=2010 |volume=4 |page=477 |first=David D. |last=Cole |author-link=David D. Cole |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201035358/https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/477/ |archive-date=December 1, 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite magazine |url=https://harpers.org/blog/2010/02/the-margolis-memo/ |title=The Margolis Memo |magazine=Harper's Magazine |first=Scott |last=Horton |author-link=Scott Horton (attorney) |date=February 24, 2010 |access-date=December 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202024611/https://harpers.org/blog/2010/02/the-margolis-memo/ |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |url-status=live }}
Federal judicial service
Bybee was first nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the largest U.S. appellate court, on May 22, 2002. The Senate recessed for mid-term elections without acting on the nomination, which was "returned without action" in November 2002 under Senate Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6.{{cite web|title=Senate Judiciary Committee, Jay S. Bybee Nomination to 9th Circuit Court Returned|url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ntquery/z?nomis:107PN0177800:|publisher=Library of Congress|work=Congressional Record|date=20 November 2002|access-date=April 29, 2009|archive-date=January 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113171513/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ntquery/z?nomis:107PN0177800:|url-status=dead}}
President George W. Bush resubmitted his nomination on January 7, 2003. The Senate Judiciary Committee reported favorably on Bybee's nomination by a 12–6 vote (10 Republicans and 2 Democrats for, 6 Democrats against) in late February and forwarded the nomination to the full Senate for consideration.{{cite web|title=Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings, Jay S. Bybee Nomination to 9th Circuit Court|url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ntquery/z?nomis:108PN0000400:|publisher=Library of Congress|work=Congressional Record|date=27 February 2003|access-date=April 29, 2009|archive-date=December 21, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221233358/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ntquery/z?nomis:108PN0000400:|url-status=dead}} Senate deliberations took place on March 13, 2003.{{cite web|title=Senate Floor Statements, Jay S. Bybee Nomination to 9th Circuit Court|url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r108:FLD001:S03678|publisher=Library of Congress|work=Congressional Record|date=13 March 2003|access-date=April 29, 2009|archive-date=January 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113171513/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r108:FLD001:S03678|url-status=dead}} The Senate confirmed Bybee's nomination by a 74-19 vote the same day.{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00054|title=On the Nomination (Confirmantion Jay S. Bybee, Of Nevada, To Be U.S. Circuit Judge)|date=13 March 2003}} Bybee received his commission on March 21, 2003.{{FJC Bio|nid=1391741|inline=yes}} Justice Sandra Day O'Connor administered the oath of office at the United States Supreme Court building on March 28, 2003.{{Cite news |last=Tetreault |first=Steve |url=http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Mar-29-Sat-2003/news/20995147.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030416012259/http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Mar-29-Sat-2003/news/20995147.html |archive-date=April 16, 2003 |access-date=November 18, 2021 |title=Nevadan sworn in as U.S. judge |newspaper=Las Vegas Review Journal |date=29 March 2003}}
Democratic Senator Charles Schumer noted that he supported Bybee's confirmation specifically because the judge's conservative views would help to moderate "the most liberal court in the country."{{cite web|url=http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Mar-14-Fri-2003/news/20886323.html|work=Las Vegas Review-Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030411141904/http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Mar-14-Fri-2003/news/20886323.html |date=March 14, 2003 |archive-date=April 11, 2003 |title=Bybee OK'd for federal judge post |first=Tony |last=Batt |access-date=October 20, 2021 }} Some critics decried his confirmation, calling Bybee "an extremist who takes an overly limited view of federal power" and criticizing his "narrow view of individual rights", including abortion and gay marriage.{{Cite news |last=Ofgang |first=Kenneth |url=http://www.metnews.com/articles/bybe031403.htm |access-date=November 18, 2021 |title=Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee Confirmed as Ninth Circuit Judge |newspaper=Metropolitan News-Enterprise |date=14 March 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126044037/http://www.metnews.com/articles/bybe031403.htm |archive-date=2021-01-26 }}
Bybee was confirmed in 2003, more than a year before news of his role in the torture memos was revealed.{{Cite news |last=Vick |first=Karl |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042403888.html |access-date=November 18, 2021 |title=Friends Say Judge Bybee Regrets Interrogation Memo He Signed |newspaper=Washington Post |date=25 April 2009 }} According to Senator Patrick Leahy, "If the Bush administration and Mr. Bybee had told the truth," regarding Bybee's role in the Torture Memos, "he never would have been confirmed."
In July 2019, it was reported that Bybee planned to assume senior status by the end of the year.{{cite news|url=https://biglawbusiness.com/trump-to-get-another-9th-cir-appointment-jay-bybee-seat-opening|date=July 2, 2019|title=Trump To Get Another 9th Circuit Appointment: Jay Bybee Seat Opening|work=biglawbusiness.com|first=Joyce E.|last=Cutler|access-date=October 20, 2021}} On September 20, 2019, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Lawrence VanDyke to Bybee's seat.{{cite web|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump-announces-judicial-nominees-united-states-marshal-nominee-5/|title=President Donald J. Trump Announces Judicial Nominees and United States Marshal Nominee|date=September 20, 2019|via=National Archives|work=whitehouse.gov|access-date=September 20, 2019}} VanDyke was confirmed by the Senate on December 11, 2019.{{Cite web|url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/lawrence-vandyke-confirmed-to-appellate-court-bench-1911931/|first=Gary|last=Martin|title=Lawrence VanDyke confirmed to appellate court bench|date=2019-12-11|website=Las Vegas Review-Journal|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-30}} Bybee assumed senior status on December 31, 2019.
= Significant opinions =
On January 13, 2005, in a 2–1 decision, Bybee wrote for the majority in United States v. Bruce. This case refined the rules for defining whether or not an individual is considered a Native American. The current two-prong Rogers approach requires that the individual's degree of Indian blood as well as his tribal or government recognition as an Indian be taken into consideration.{{cite journal|url=http://openjurist.org/394/f3d/1215/united-states-v-bruce|title=394 F3d 1215 United States v. Bruce|first=United States Court of Appeals, Ninth|last=Circuit.|date=1 January 2004|volume=F3d|issue=394|pages=1215}}
On August 2, 2005, Bybee was one of three judges on a Ninth Circuit panel that ruled on Doe v. Kamehameha Schools. With Judge Robert Beezer, Bybee voted for the majority decision that the schools' admissions policy constitutes "unlawful race discrimination." The two judges said the private school's policy violates federal civil rights law. Susan Graber issued a partial dissent. That panel's ruling was overturned on December 5, 2006, by an 8–7 decision of the Ninth Circuit's fully active appeals judges en banc, after a rehearing sought by Kamehameha Schools.{{cite news |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Aug/03/ln/508030350.html |title='John Doe v. Kamehameha Schools' |date=August 3, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220130920/https://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Aug/03/ln/508030350.html |archive-date=2009-02-20 |url-status=dead |work=The Honolulu Advertiser }}
On January 10, 2006, in an en banc decision, Judge Bybee wrote the opinion for the majority in the case of Smith v. Salish Kootenai College. In that case, James Smith sought to have a case heard in federal court which he had previously brought in a tribal court. When he disagreed with the tribal court's decision, he claimed that it had had no jurisdiction in the first place. In an 8-3 decision, the Court upheld the tribal court's jurisdiction over the subject matter, thereby strengthening tribal courts' rights to claim jurisdiction.{{cite journal|url=http://openjurist.org/434/f3d/1127/smith-v-salish-kootenai-college|title=434 F3d 1127 Smith v. Salish Kootenai College|first=United States Court of Appeals, Ninth|last=Circuit.|date=1 January 2005|volume=F3d|issue=434|pages=1127}}{{cite web|url=http://64.38.12.138/News/2006/011980.asp?print=1 |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-06-11 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721060017/http://64.38.12.138/News/2006/011980.asp?print=1 |archive-date=July 21, 2011 }}
On September 11, 2006, Bybee wrote the majority opinion in Kesser v. Cambra, granting habeas corpus to the defendant by a 6–5 vote. Richard Kesser had been convicted of hiring a hitman to kill his former wife and was sentenced to life without parole. During Kesser's trial in 1995, the prosecutor had eliminated three Native American jurors and one Asian juror for racial reasons. Effectively granting Kesser a new trial, this decision laid out the current Batson analysis in the Ninth Circuit.{{cite web|url=http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1158051920825|title=Law.com}}{{cite web|url=http://circuit9.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html|title=Ninth Circuit Blog: September 2006}}
On November 7, 2006, Bybee wrote on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel in the case of Lankford v. Arave. Mark Lankford had been convicted of murder and sentenced to death nearly two decades earlier. The Ninth Circuit granted habeas corpus based on ineffective assistance of counsel and faulty jury instructions, and noted that there was support for Lankford's theory that his brother committed the murders in question.{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224120352/http://www.cae-fpd.org/news/dec06.pdf |date=February 24, 2012 |title=Federal Defender Newsletter }} (December 2006), Federal Defender for the Eastern District of California (archived from [http://www.cae-fpd.org/news/dec06.pdf the original] on 201-02-24){{cite web|url=http://www.metnews.com/articles/2006/lank110806.htm|title=Ninth Circuit Reverses Death Sentence for Attorney Incompetence}}
On August 21, 2008, in U.S. v. Craighead, the Ninth Circuit held that the defendant's rights had been violated when he was interrogated in his own home without first being read his Miranda rights. In that case, numerous law enforcement officers had arrived at the defendant's home because he was suspected of having downloaded child pornography. In a decision written by Bybee, the Court held that the defendant's interrogation had been custodial and therefore violated his Fifth Amendment rights.{{cite web|url=http://www.familyrightsassociation.com/bin/caselaw/us_v_craighead.htm|title=U.S. v. Craighead|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206020409/http://www.familyrightsassociation.com/bin/caselaw/us_v_craighead.htm|archive-date=2010-12-06}}
On November 7, 2008 (but amended twice in January 2009), the Ninth Circuit tackled the issue of due process rights of individuals who were mistakenly placed on the California Child Abuse Central Index (CCACI), a registry for accused and known child abusers. In Los Angeles County v. Humphries, Craig and Wendy Humphries fought to have their names removed from the CCACI after the courts had cleared them completely of abuse charges brought by a rebellious child. Because the state of California had no system in place for removing names that did not belong on the CCACI, the Court held that the CCACI violated the due process rights of those who had been falsely accused but could not get their names removed from the CCACI.{{cite web|url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0556467oap.pdf|title=FindLaw's United States Ninth Circuit case and opinions.}}
On December 30, 2008, Bybee wrote the opinion for the Ninth Circuit in Gonzalez v. Duncan. In that case, Cecilio Gonzalez had failed to reregister as a sex offender within five working days of his birthday. Because of prior convictions, he had been sentenced to twenty-seven years to life under California's Three strikes law. The Court held that the sentence was grossly disproportionate to the crime.{{cite web |url=https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2008/12/30/0656523.pdf |title=Cecilio Gonzalez v. W. A. Duncan, No. 06-56523 D.C. No. CV-04-09786-DOC Opinion |date=December 30, 2008 |work=9th Cir. |page=16829}}
On August 29, 2012, Bybee, who previously wrote the dissent in a three-judge panel's ruling, authored the majority opinion that found Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik were not entitled to governmental immunity. The case involved the alleged false arrest of two newspaper publishers who had criticized the Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff. In an 11-judge en banc hearing, the Ninth Circuit reversed the panel's decision and held the two defendants could be civilly tried for a potential award of damages for the arrests, violations of free speech and alleged selective enforcement.{{cite web|url=https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/almID/1202569568174/ |title=Arpaio must stand trial for alleged false arrest of newspaper publishers |website=law.com |date=August 29, 2012 |access-date=October 20, 2021 }}
On March 24, 2021, Bybee wrote the 7–4 majority opinion in Young v. State of Hawaii (en banc), a case that upheld Hawaii's law that requires someone to demonstrate the "urgency or need" to openly carry a firearm in order to do so.{{Cite web|url=https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2021/03/24/12-17808.pdf|title=Young v. State of Hawaii|website=cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov|date=March 24, 2021|access-date=May 18, 2021}}
Personal life
Bybee is married to Dianna Greer, a high school teacher. On November 19, 2013, Bybee's twenty-six-year-old son, Scott Greer Bybee, committed suicide at the Las Vegas Mormon Temple.{{cite news |last=Ritter |first=Ken |date=November 21, 2013 |title=Suicide at Vegas Mormon temple was federal judge's son |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |agency=Associated Press |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57157384&itype=cmsid |access-date=October 19, 2021}}{{cite news |last=Berry |first=Andrew |date=November 20, 2013 |title=Judge Son Suicide: Son Of Federal Appeals Court Judge Jay Bybee Commits Suicide Outside Las Vegas Mormon Temple |url=https://www.ibtimes.com/judge-son-suicide-son-federal-appeals-court-judge-jay-bybee-commits-suicide-outside-las-vegas-mormon |access-date=October 19, 2021}} A lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), Bybee served a mission for the LDS Church in Santiago, Chile from 1973 to 1975.
Publications
- Jay Bybee, Thomas B. McAffee and A. Christopher Bryant. Powers Reserved for the People and the States: A History of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. (Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 2006.) {{ISBN|0-313-31372-5}}.
- Jay Bybee, Religious Liberty Under the Free Exercise Clause. (Washington, D.C.: Office of Legal Policy, Dept. of Justice, 1988)
- {{cite journal |title=William Rehnquist, the Separation of Powers, and the Riddle of the Sphinx |volume=58 |journal=Stanford Law Review |issue=6 |page=1735 |date=April 2010 |first1=Jay |last1=Bybee |first2=Tuan N. |last2=Samahon |url=https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/facpub/353 }}
- "Judging the Tournament," 32 FLA. ST. U. L. REV. 1055 (2005) (with Thomas J. Miles)
- "Of Orphans and Vouchers: Nevada's 'Little Blaine Amendment' and the Future of Religious Participation in Public Programs," 2 NEV. L.J. 551 (2002) (with David W. Newton)
- {{cite journal |title=Printz, the Unitary Executive, and the Fire in the Trash Can: Has Justice Scalia Picked the Court's Pocket? |volume=77 |issue=1 |journal=Notre Dame Law Review |page=269 |year=2001 }}
- {{cite journal |url=https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/facpub/358/ |title=Common Ground: Robert Jackson, Antonin Scalia, and a Power Theory of the First Amendment |volume=75 |journal=Tulane Law Review |issue=2 |year=2000}}
- {{cite journal |title=The Tenth Amendment Among the Shadows: On Reading the Constitution in Plato's Cave |volume=23 |issue=2 |journal=Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy |page=551 |year=2000 |url=https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/facpub/346/ }}
- "Domestic Violence Clause," in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION (Leonard W. Levy et al. eds., 2d ed. 2000)
- "Child Support Recovery Act" (1992), in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION (Leonard W. Levy et al. eds., 2d ed. 2000)
- "Agency Expertise, ALJ Independence, and Administrative Courts: The Recent Changes in Louisiana's Administrative Procedure Act", 59 LA. L. REV. 431 (1999)
- "The Equal Process Clause: A Note on the (Non).Relationship Between Romer v. Evans and Hunter v. Erickson{{-"}}, 6 WM. & MARY BILL RTS. J. 201 (1997)
- "Insuring Domestic Tranquility: Lopez, Federalization of Crime, and the Forgotten Role of theDomestic Violence Clause", 66 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1 (1997)
- "Who Executes the Executioner? Impeachment, Indictment and Other Alternatives to Assassination", 2 NEXUS 53 (1997)
- "Ulysses at the Mast: Democracy, Federalism, and the Sirens' Song of the Seventeenth Amendment", 91 NW. U.L. REV. 500 (1997)
- "Substantive Due Process and Free Exercise of Religion: Meyer, Pierce and the Origins of Wisconsin v. Yoder{{-"}}, 25 CAP. U.L. REV. 887 (1996)
- "Taking Liberties with the First Amendment: Congress, Section 5, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act", 48 VAND. L. REV. 1539 (1995)
- "Advising the President: Separation of Powers and the Federal Advisory Committee Act", 104 YALE L.J. 51 (1994)
- "George Sutherland", in THE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES: ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHIES, 1789–1993 (Clare Cushman ed. 1993)
- "Owen J. Roberts", in THE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES: ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHIES, 1789–1993 (Clare Cushman ed. 1993)
- "Utah's Horseman: George Sutherland", 13 SUP. CT. HIST. Q. 14 (No. 2, 1992)
- "Note, Reverse Political Checkoff Per Se Illegal as Violation of Federal Election Campaign Act", 1980 BYU L. REV. 403
- {{cite journal |url=https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/facpub/347/ |title=Comment, Profits in Subrogation: An Insurer's Claim to Be More Than Indemnified |year=1979 |journal=BYU Law Review |volume=145 }} Reprinted in 30 FED'N INS. COUNS. Q. 249 (1980)
See also
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{FJC Bio|nid=1391741}}
- [http://news.findlaw.com/nytimes/docs/doj/bybee80102mem.pdf "Bybee memo"]
- [http://www.newsweek.com/id/42694/output/print "The Law Required It"], Newsweek interview with OLC's 2003 replacement, Jack Goldsmith.
- [http://ensign.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Media.FloorStatements&ContentRecord_id=f610e31c-a221-414a-9faf-03930c8f96ce&Region_id=&Issue_id= "Sen. Ensign Floor Statement"]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, March 13, 2003
- {{cite web |url=http://tortureaccountability.org/jay_bybee/ |title=Jay Bybee |publisher=The Center for Torture Accountability |access-date=2009-06-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090512185459/http://tortureaccountability.org/jay_bybee/ |archive-date=2009-05-12 |url-status=dead }}
{{s-start}}
{{s-legal}}
{{s-bef|before=Procter Ralph Hug Jr.}}
{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit}}|years=2003–2019}}
{{s-aft|after=Lawrence VanDyke}}
{{s-end}}
{{United States courts of appeals senior judges}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bybee, Jay Scott}}
Category:20th-century American lawyers
Category:Latter Day Saints from California
Category:American war criminals
Category:Brigham Young University alumni
Category:J. Reuben Clark Law School alumni
Category:Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Category:Lawyers from Oakland, California
Category:Louisiana State University faculty
Category:Torture in the United States
Category:United States assistant attorneys general for the Office of Legal Counsel
Category:United States court of appeals judges appointed by George W. Bush
Category:United States Department of Justice lawyers
Category:University of Nevada, Las Vegas faculty
Category:Latter Day Saints from Washington, D.C.