Ninth Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee has declined an invitation from Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy to testify about his role in writing controversial Justice Department memoranda providing legal rationales for harsh detainee interrogation techinques.

Liberal activists have called on the House of Representatives to impeach Bybee, who previously served as Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, for the part he played in buttressing the use of techniques that critics say amounted to torture.

"Two weeks ago, I invited Judge Jay Bybee to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I did so after reading accounts in The Washington Post suggesting he has expressed regrets regarding his work at the OLC, and then, in comments he sent a couple days later to The New York Times, he turned around and defended the same legal opinions, incidentally legal opinions that have now been withdrawn," Leahy said. "I invited him to come forward and tell the truth and the complete truth before the committee. Which -- which Jay Bybee do we rely upon -- the one that is in the press Monday or the one who's in the press the next day?"