This is a complex story which is still developing. Basically, there’s ongoing investigation as to whether lawyers such as John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who is currently a federal judge, may have legal or ethical issues with respect to their work for the Bush administration. These two wrote memos for the Bush administration about torture essentially saying “When the president does it, it is not illegal.” However, it turns out, just having lawyers write such memos, of course, does not necessarily make it so.
Journalist Michael Isikoff says on the Rachel Maddow show it’s possible that, “…the entire legal edifice of Bush counter terrorism policy was based on not just shoddy legal analysis, but unprofessional and potentially unethical legal analysis.”
Furthermore, if senior Bush administration officials were actually dictating and colluding with the authors of the memos it could lead to even more severe repercussions. Unfortunately it’s too early to really tell what would happen, exactly, but obviously it would not be good for anyone involved.