This might affect your response.
Judge Alex Kozinski [9th Circuit Court of Appeals] handed down a decision stating that judges of the
court of appeals could not be held accountable for any crimes they may
have committed before they came on the bench—at least not through the
court’s own internal disciplinary mechanisms.
So who gets off, thanks to this decision? Jay Bybee, torture memoist. Check it out.
The position advanced by Kozinski provides a parallel to arguments
advanced by the Bush and Obama Administrations under which their
operatives have complete immunity for criminal misconduct relating to
the torture issue. Apparently, judges have immunity for their
misconduct as well. As America’s legal system is evolving, those who
exercise positions of privilege and power are not held to account for
even the most serious violations of the criminal law. Accountability,
it seems, is reserved strictly for the small fry.
