Haynes -- out!

As Hilzoy says, the witch is dead!! For one rare moment, one of Bush's lawless lackeys finally has to leave government service. The story that got him out was The Nation's account of how he fixed the show trial process for Gitmo detainees. But his evil goes far deeper:

Haynes led the working group that wrote one of the most appalling torture memos (pdf). This memo argues that the President "enjoys complete discretion in the exercise of his Commander-in-Chief authority", and that "In light of the President's complete authority over the conduct of war, without a clear statement otherwise, criminal statutes are not read as infringing on the President's ultimate authority in these areas." Also: "Any attempt by Congress to regulate the interrogation of unlawful combatants would violate the Constitution's sole vesting of the Commander-in-Chief authority in the President." (p. 23) Or, in other words: when we're at war, the President does not have to obey the law.

And Hilzoy ends with a delightful anecdote about how this creep argued for bombing bird nests on the grounds that it would 1) make the fewer remaining ones more special, and 2) reduce human intrustion into their habitat, which would have become a bombing range. Classy. Hilzoy again:

May William Haynes enjoy a pleasant retirement as far away from the law as it is possible to be. He has already done more than enough damage to it for several lifetimes.

Amen!