From the Department of Justice to Guantanamo Bay; Administration Lawyers and Administration Interrogation Rules, Part I: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 110th Cong., May 6, 2008 (Statement of David Luban, Prof. of Law, Geo. U. L. Center)

Authors

David Luban, Georgetown University Law CenterFollow

Document Type

Congressional Testimony

Publication Date

5-6-2008

Abstract

Government lawyers have an awesome responsibility. Office of Legal Counsel opinions bind the entire executive branch. They have the force of law inside that branch. The idea that unelected lawyers are writing secret legal opinions that spin the law makes a mockery of democratic government. It means the executive branch is governed by a secret constitution - a constitution written by activist lawyers instead of the constitution written by the Framers.

Without getting too deeply into technicalities which, quite frankly, only a lawyer could love, let me summarize in a bit more detail just how spun the torture memos were.