Proposals to impeach Judge Jay Bybee and remove the former Bush administration lawyer from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals appear to be a longshot. But that surely isn't stopping some from trying to build momentum for the cause.In truth, the real court that matters here may be the court of public opinion.

On Sunday, the New York Times explicitly called for Judge Bybee's impeachment; although this was, to be sure, buried within a larger editorial about the Bush administration's memos authorizing cruel treatment of certain prisoners. On Monday, a faithful Times reader and member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., called for impeachment proceedings. This, in turn, led Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on Monday night to defend Bybee, a product of Utah schools. Hatch's comments, then, led Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont to declare Tuesday that if Bybee "is a decent and honorable person," he will resign.

Note that Sen. Leahy simply smiled and declined to say whether  he thought impeachment was appropriate if the judge didn't step down. It was a case of creative ambiguity; a threat best left unsaid. Suits & Sentences's assessment is that the threat to Judge Bybee's career is not impeachment per se but rather the day-to-day accretion of pressure that finally interferes with his judicial work and convinces him it's time to go. So, from the perspective of the judge's opponents, their tactical approach would be to find a new element every day that keeps the story alive and growing.