WASHINGTON — Bush administration lawyers who draftedlegal theories that led to waterboarding and other harsh treatment ofterrorism suspects showed poor judgment but won't face sanctions forprofessional misconduct, according to a published report.
Aforthcoming government ethics report initially concluded the two keyauthors of the so-called torture memos, Jay Bybee and John Yoo, whowere officials in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counselduring the Bush administration, had violated their professionalobligations as lawyers when they crafted the memos that allowed the useof harsh interrogation tactics.
But a senior Justice Departmentofficial, David Margolis, later softened the department's finding tosay the authors simply showed poor judgment, Newsweek reported.
Margolis,who is a career lawyer and not a political appointee of the Obamaadministration, has supervised the department's internal disciplinethrough several administrations from his post in the deputy attorneygeneral's office.