Conyers to Examine New Torture Memo, Executive Power at May Hearing

(Washington, DC)- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) announced plans to hold a May 6 hearing to examine a recently released torture memo and the issue of executive power as it relates to interrogation and war-making authority. Conyers also sent a letter today to University of California - Berkeley professor John Yoo asking him to testify at the hearing. Yoo is the former attorney in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel who authored the recently released memo seeking to clarify torture procedures and detailing the administration's extremely broad view of presidential powers during wartime.

"I am concerned that some in the administration view the president's power as that of an imperial presidency - not a democracy," Conyers said. "The Judiciary Committee will look at the legal basis for actions taken before and during the war and whether we need to write stronger laws to prevent a future imperial presidency from steamrolling Congress and the American people into a thoughtless war and violating our fundamental human rights obligations."

The announcement comes the same day as a request from Judiciary Committee member Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) to hold such hearings. In a letter to Conyers, Sherman argued, "Congress and the American people should have the opportunity to understand the scope of the scope of the Bush/Cheney administration's violations and determine if further action from Congress is required."

Sherman's letter to Conyers, as well as Conyers' letter to Professor Yoo, are linked below.