Recommended Citation
Michael Hatfield, Fear, Legal Indeterminacy, and the American Lawyering Culture, 10 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 511 (2006), https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-articles/355
Publication Title
Lewis and Clark Law Review
Keywords
torture memos
Document Type
Article
Abstract
On August 1, 2002, then Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee signed for President Bush a memorandum of law concluding that some torture was not necessarily illegal if the President ordered it. This Essay examines how Bybee could arrive at a conclusion that is fundamentally at odds with both our national moral spirit and our law. In doing so, it cautions American lawyers to recognize the difference between what is "legal" and what is "arguably legal, " and to be aware of their own extra-legal biases when interpreting the law.
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