Groups Move to Disbar Bush Lawyers Over Torture

A coalition of mostly left-leaning organizations is attempting to get a gaggle of Bush officials disbarred for sanctioning torture, the Legal Times reports. In complaints filed with five state bar associations today, the groups accuse ex-attorneys general Michael Mukasey, Alberto Gonzalez, and John Ashcroft—along with nine others—of violating professional standards, the Constitution, domestic laws, and international treaties.

“It is time to hold these lawyers accountable for violating their legal oath,” said the head of one group, saying that if the bars don’t act “they will be seen as complicit in the use of torture.” But the bars probably don’t have the resources to pursue the cases, and in one case the bar’s self-imposed statute of limitation has run out. (More torture stories.)