# Could/Should Jay Bybee be disbarred? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 22, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-should-jay-bybee-be-disbarred/494008 "2009-04-22T19:26:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 4
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-should-jay-bybee-be-disbarred/494008/4 "2009-04-22T22:22:50Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Ethical violations are not included? Or do ethics for this only encompass things like faulty billing of your client or somesuch? > > I thought (and can certainly be mistaken) that legal ethics were more stringent than the law itself. Such that a lawyer could be disbarred while not having actually done anything illegal. > > If there is a serious look at (maybe) prosecuting Bybee and such then is it unreasonable to assume that perhaps an ethical question is in there? Legal ethics are more stringent than the law – in some areas. And they are silent in other areas. If you’re picturing legal ethics as sort of a “super morality” code, then you’re mistaken. A lawyer can be disbarred for doing something that seems highly moral – breaking confidentiality, for example, to ensure that an innocent person isn’t sent to jail. They can be disbarred for acts that are morally neutral – co-mingling client and personal funds in a single bank account, even if scrupulously accurate records are kept as to whose funds are whose, and not a penny is paid out wrongly or lost by anyone. Bybee offered a legal judgment on a legal issue. Congress’ decision to remove him, should they make it, is a political one. But there’s no legal ethical rule that says, “Thou shalt not opine that morally horrendous matters may be legal.” --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-should-jay-bybee-be-disbarred/494008)._