Maybe the Bush administration's quiet phone campaign to urge the Department of Justice into going easy on the lawyers who crafted the legal documents clearing the way for controversial interrogation methods actually worked. According to the Times, "an internal Justice Department inquiry into the conduct of Bush administration lawyers who wrote secret memorandums authorizing brutal interrogations has concluded that the authors committed serious lapses of judgment but should not be criminally prosecuted, according to government officials briefed on a draft of the findings." The 220-page Office of Professional Responsibility report, which is still in draft form now and has yet to be signed by attorney general Eric Holder, will likely end up recommending instead that the conduct of the lawyers be individually reviewed by state bar associations and that disciplinary actions or even disbarment be considered.

Charges Seen as Unlikely for Lawyers Over Interrogations [NYT]