Judge: Ex-Bush lawyer can be sued over torture

SF Chronicle ^ | June 13, 2009 | Bob Egelko

[Oldeconomybuyer]

A prisoner who says he was tortured while being held for nearly four years as a suspected terrorist can sue former Bush administration lawyer John Yoo for coming up with the legal theories that justified his alleged treatment, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White's decision marks the first time a government lawyer has been held potentially responsible for the abuse of detainees.

"Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct," White said in refusing to dismiss Jose Padilla's lawsuit against Yoo.

If Padilla, now serving a 17-year prison sentence on terrorism charges, can prove his allegations, he can show that Yoo "set in motion a series of events that resulted in the deprivation of Padilla's constitutional rights," White said.

White, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, noted that Padilla's lawsuit accuses Yoo of helping to design administration policy on detention and torture, and then crafting legal opinions to justify it - stepping outside the usual role of a lawyer.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

so much for the WAR ON TERROR !!

[pnh102]

This is why you shoot terrorists on sight and don’t tell anyone about it.

[Principled]

and mirandizing terrorists and bring them for trial in the us won’t create any issues.

[svcw]

So now you can be prosecuted for an opinion - welcome to the King Barry's America.

[Old Retired Army Guy]

He’s not going to get anywhere on this one. He was in a Navy brig and wasn’t “waterboarded by the CIA”. This one will get tossed on appeal.

[4rcane]

sued for what? For having a different policy, opinion?

[Venturer]

Ridiculous.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Oh. I sooo agree. Is this a war or is this not a war?

When you declare a war on anything, you prosecute that war to the best of your abilities with extreme prejudice. Maximum application of violence.

When the wolf is at your door, tarry not. Dispatch the wolf immediately.

[clee1]

"Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct,"

BULL$HIT!!!!

How many times have judges been jailed for freeing murderers on the flimsiest excuses?

How many times have goobermint stooges paid the price for their "unintended consequences".

How many times have the publik skrewel educrats paid the price for their ill-advised and inflexible "zero tolerance" policies?

I'll say it again. BULL$HIT!

[Reaganesque]

So now, instead of throwing bombs, this terrorist is going to sue and sue and sue in an attempt to destroy us with our own legal system.

[dirtboy]

White, an appointee of former President George W. Bush,

As was Sotomayor. Bush the Elder - the gift that just keeps on giving.

[bitterohiogunclinger]

Just a preview of the types of legal decisions from the 9th Circus, coming soon to a Supreme Court near you.

[PubliusMM]

So...this has now become “the War on the War on Terror”...

The 0bamunists continue their slog to Marxism with the ongoing attacks on the prior administration(s).

It’s time to take back the country.

[Buckhead]

This is nuts on every level.

Even if you assume that the confinement without prosecution and the conditions of Padilla’s confinement were unconstitutional, Yoo is still entitled to a panoply of immunities.

First, there is or should be an absolute immunity from suit by enemy combatants for the actions of executive branch officials in the prosecution of a war. To even have to articulate that demonstrates the raving insanity of the proposition.

Second, there is prosecutorial immunity, which is very nearly absolute.

Third, there is qualified immunity, in which the official has no liability unless they knowingly and intentionally violate the clearly established constitutional rights of the plaintiff. Yoo’s memo in and of itself proves that the rights were not clearly established since it concluded the authority for detention and harsh interrogation existed under law.

How could could anyone conclude otherwise when Korematsu and Hirabayashi were still good law?

This will likely be reversed, but after Boumedine, who can say if the Supreme Court has yet recovered from it’s own psychotic episode of Bush Derangement Syndrome?

[Waco]

Bin Laddie must be THRILLED that we have these shite-heads on our side.

[Carl Vehse]

"Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the forseeable consequences of their conduct"

In demanding Nuremberg-type crimes-against-humanity trials, convictions, and sentencing of government and business leaders, including U.S. District judges, involved in setting up, supporting and implementing genocidal abortion policies that have murder 50 million unborn infants in the U.S., pro-life groups should keep this phrase in mind.

[BlueYonder]

"Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct,"

Spoken like a government official who doesn't realize the "foreseeable consequences" of his own judicial ruling.

[behzinlea]

So now you can be prosecuted for an opinion - welcome to the King Barry's America.

Not just any opinion. Just opinions the loony left disagrees with.

[Kentuckian]

It's fun keeping tabs on what the likes of ACLU are up to. I get this in my inbox yesterday:
"Dear ACLU Supporter,

The evidence of the Bush administration’s illegal torture program continues to mount. And today, we’re seeking your help to get that evidence in front of Attorney General Eric Holder.
You can help submit evidence and demand accountability by using our new Accountability for Torture action center.
At this comprehensive and resource-filled new site, you can also view videos that make a powerful case for accountability…see profiles of the main architects of the Bush torture program…and use a search engine to examine the mountains of evidence the ACLU has obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation.
Click here to visit our new action center where you can submit evidence to Attorney General Holder.
You can help submit evidence and demand accountability by using our new Accountability for Torture action center.
Just yesterday, the ACLU submitted another FOIA request seeking additional evidence of high-ranking involvement in the Bush administration’s torture program. We've already uncovered thousands of documents through our torture FOIA, and with mounting evidence must come mounting pressure to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate systematic torture.
In America, no one is above the law -- and when crimes have been committed, our legal system demands accountability. That’s why tens of thousands of ACLU supporters have already demanded this critical investigation. But Attorney General Holder has yet to act. So, we must keep the pressure on.
We’re asking people all across the country to deluge the Justice Department with more and more evidence that an independent investigation is fully warranted.
Visit our action center and urge Attorney General Holder to launch an independent investigation of the Bush torture program now.
You’ve helped the ACLU uncover critical pieces of evidence already. And, in the weeks ahead, we expect much more to be revealed. Together, we must use this compelling evidence to create mounting pressure for a full and independent investigation.
Thank you for standing with us.

Sincerely,
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
American Civil Liberties Union"

So I sent him this reply:
"You really need to pull your head out of your ass, Obama's ass, or whoever's ass it's stuck in at the moment and just think before pushing these idiotic agendas.

Take a look at the facts of what was happening at the time.
#1 > We had just been sucker punched by Islamofascist terrorists on 9/11/2001.
#2 > We had on going threats of further attacks on US soil and American citizens around the globe.
#3 > The terrorists that were conspiring to kill Americans and other non-Muslim followers had no fear of dying for their cause. In fact dying for their cause was a direct ticket to paradise according to their beliefs.
#4 > None of the 3, yes THREE, Islamofascist terrorists that were waterboarded were ever physically harmed nor did they suffer any blood loss.
#5 > Detainees that were released by Bush and Obama returned to their terrorist ways.
#6 > We've not suffered the same losses on American soil that we saw on 9/11.

I'm certainly no fan of the Bush Administration, but of over 800 terrorists detained only three (3) were waterboarded to glean information of what were deemed credible threats. Noticed I keep using the term waterboarded instead of torture. When you bring up the term torture you damned well better be talking about physical harm. Beatings, electricity, bleeding, bone breaking, skin cutting, things that require healing. Referring to waterboarding as torture is not only absurd, it's flat out disingenuous. You have some rather unhealthy hatred for someone with whom you disagree and a psychological disorder that prohibits you from moving on with your life.

Let me focus on a FACT that you cannot dispute. Which happened first: These "crimes" at Gitmo? or 9-11? Now unless you have rewritten history then they attacked us first without provocation. If they need no provocation to kill innocent American civilians, what then would ensure they never attempt to kill us again? Nothing. Nothing short of eradicating those who were involved or supported those involved OR - OR, we instill in them the fear of GOD! Not Allah. We make them fear the consequences of even so much as thinking of harming a hair on another American citizen for the rest of the existence of civilization.

If pouring some water into the face of a terrorist can instill the necessary level of fear within those who are willing to die for their religious beliefs so that the rest of us need not worry about being their next victim - IT DAMN WELL OUGHT TO BE DONE!! If any enemy detainee of the United States of America is likely to hold information about a pending attack that will take lives of innocent Americans - young or old, male or female, straight or gay, then by God someone had better pull out all the stops to get enough information to stop that attack - beyond waterboarding if necessary.

Now ask yourself this. Which would you be more able to live with: Knowing a detained terrorist has nothing to fear while an elementary school in Virginia becomes the next "ground zero"? Or Accepting a terrorist lost his left arm and an attack on an elementary school in Virginia was stopped with more terrorists taken off our streets. Or that a terrorist had a little bit of cold water poured on his face and an attack on an elementary school in Virginia was stopped with more terrorists arrested and taken off the streets? Which of those scenarios would best suite you? I sure as hell hope it isn't the first one because that would make you just as much of a terrorist as those currently detained.

We as Americans are here to protect America so that America can protect Americans. If you can't live with that, I hear there may be a few taxpayer funded flights to Bermuda.

Proud, Loyal American,
My Name"

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Bravo!

[Kentuckian]

BTW: Here is that dirtbag’s email addy: Executive_Director@aclu.org

be sure to send more love his way.

[jdub]

What is it with GHWB’s judicial appointments?

[SteamShovel]

How many times have judges been jailed for freeing murderers on the flimsiest excuses?

How many times have goobermint stooges paid the price for their "unintended consequences".

How many times have the publik skrewel educrats paid the price for their ill-advised and inflexible "zero tolerance" policies?

Exactly.....

.....if this became precedent, then all lawyers, elected officials, bureaucrats, and teachers would be highly exposed to legal action.

This will not stand.

[DoughtyOne]

It didn’t take this terrorist long to get to the judicial district whose judges would be most likely to rule in his favor.

Even I didn’t think it would happen this fast.

Oh well, Obama doesn’t think open court trials would be a problem anyway. And I’m sure his disciples will think it’s just grand too.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

I want to sue my congressional reprentatives for making my life miserable and I also want to sue whoever appointed this idiotic judge.

[Dilbert San Diego]

This legal reasoning concerns me, beyond just this immediate case. Where’s the criminal intent or evidence that someone writing a legal opinion is authorizing the alleged “torture”????????

Since this came from SF, I’m thinking it was a liberal judge on the 9th Circuit Court? So hopefully it will be overturned on appeal, as happens to the 9th Circuit a lot. But, consider the cost in legal fees and anxiety as someone has to fight this legal battle to clear their name.

[cycle of discernment]

The Death of Common Sense (first published in 1998)

By Lori Borgman
Three yards of black fabric enshroud my computer terminal. I am mourning the passing of an old friend by the name of Common Sense.

His obituary reads as follows:

Common Sense, aka C.S., lived a long life, but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No one really knows how old he was, his birth records were long ago entangled in miles and miles of bureaucratic red tape.
Known affectionately to close friends as Horse Sense and Sound Thinking, he selflessly devoted himself to a life of service in homes, schools, hospitals and offices, helping folks get jobs done without a lot of fanfare, whooping and hollering. Rules and regulations and petty, frivolous lawsuits held no power over C.S.

A most reliable sage, he was credited with cultivating the ability to know when to come in out of the rain, the discovery that the early bird gets the worm and how to take the bitter with the sweet. C.S. also developed sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (the adult is in charge, not the kid) and prudent dietary plans (offset eggs and bacon with a little fiber and orange juice).

A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the Technological Revolution and the Smoking Crusades, C.S. survived sundry cultural and educational trends including disco, the men’s movement, body piercing, whole language and new math.

C.S.’s health began declining in the late 1960s when he became infected with the If-It-Feels-Good, Do-It virus. In the following decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal and state rules and regulations and an oppressive tax code. C.S. was sapped of strength and the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, criminals received better treatment than victims and judges stuck their noses in everything from Boy Scouts to professional baseball and golf. His deterioration accelerated as schools implemented zero-tolerance policies. Reports of 6-year-old boys charged with sexual harassment for kissing classmates, a teen suspended for taking a swig of Scope mouthwash after lunch, girls suspended for possessing Midol and an honor student expelled for having a table knife in her school lunch were more than his heart could endure.

As the end neared, doctors say C.S. drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developments regarding regulations on low-flow toilets and mandatory air bags. Finally, upon hearing about a government plan to ban inhalers from 14 million asthmatics due to a trace of a pollutant that may be harmful to the environment, C.S. breathed his last. Services will be at Whispering Pines Cemetery. C.S. was preceded in death by his wife, Discretion; one daughter, Responsibility; and one son, Reason. He is survived by two step-brothers, Half-Wit and Dim-Wit.

Memorial Contributions may be sent to the Institute for Rational Thought.

Farewell, Common Sense. May you rest in peace.

Note from Lori Borgman: This piece was first published March 15, 1998 in the Indianapolis Star. It has been “modified” and “edited” by others and circulated on the Internet, even sent to me several times. Imagine my surprise to see it attributed to some guy named Anonymous. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I take having my work circulated on the web as a compliment.

[kcvl]

Jeffrey Steven White (born September 2, 1945) is a United States jurist and judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He was appointed to the Federal Bench by President George W. Bush on July 25, 2002, and received his commission on November 15, 2002.

In 2005, White allowed environment groups and four municipalities to go forward with a lawsuit against federal agencies. The basis for the lawsuit was a claim that the federal government is contributing to global warming by funding various overseas projects.

[kcvl]

White has been presiding over litigation brought by Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen detained as an enemy combatant for years without a hearing. Padilla accuses UC-Berkeley School of Law professor John Yoo of violating his constitutional rights, via the legal opinions Yoo wrote during his time at the Office of Legal Counsel.

In a bid to toss the case, the Justice Department sought to introduce three of the OLC terror memos to show that Yoo's advice really wasn't very substantive. But when it asked that those memos be available only to the lawyers in the case, not to the public, Padilla's attorneys balked.

After President Obama's inauguration, though, the government asked for more time to consider its position. Weeks passed, and nothing was filed. Finally, White issued an order on Thursday directing the government to state its position on the protective order.

By Monday, the Justice Department gave its answer by posting the three memos -- plus six more -- on its Web site. In withdrawing the motion for a protective order as moot, the government said that it was Yoo himself who asked that the memos be filed in the first place.

"Yoo received permission to submit the documents, but only under seal and pursuant to the safeguards of a protective order," DOJ senior trial counsel Mary Mason wrote.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, whose Judiciary Committee had been denied access to the memos, praised Attorney General Eric Holder for releasing them.

"These documents, and those released late last year in response to a Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena, begin to provide details of some of the Bush administration's misguided national security policies," the Vermont Democrat said in a press release.

[piasa]

Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct,"

Then pro-abortion lawyers have something to look forward to, eh?

[donmeaker]

this is great. Sentence the defense lawyers along with their clients. Makes it a bit tougher for the thugs to get representation, but, you didn’t want the criminals to get off anyways, did you?

After all the prosecution never makes mistakes in the Obamanation.

[KTM rider]

If the Boxcutter don't fit....

you must aquit ! ! !

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

As was Sotomayor. Bush the Elder - the gift that just keeps on giving.

Don't know about this judge, but in the case of Sotomayor I'm sure you are aware that she was not actually Bush's choice, but was instead the price he had to pay to see a number of Republican judges confirmed.

[guns_for_liberty]

“So now, instead of throwing bombs, this terrorist is going to sue and sue and sue in an attempt to destroy us with our own legal system.”

Actually, you can sue for most anything, and people do. But the odds of shoe-bomber Padilla winning a verdict from an American jury are about the same as the sun exploding next week, so I wouldn’t sweat it.

[Rome2000]

Not to mention Souter.

GHWB, a Republicrats Republicrat.

[NavVet]

It is these kind of decisions that are turning the judicial branch into a joke.

[blueyon]

Good reply

[ScottinVA]

“This is why you shoot terrorists on sight and don’t tell anyone about it.”

And I’ll bet we’ll see a LOT more of that in the future.

[Born to Conserve]

If government lawyers are responsible for their actions, then so are government JUDGES.

[Paige]

The media will dig and find a left wing anti-Constitution judge from under their rock. But, what will be done to stop these people?

This is where unity comes to mind. You know simple stuff like, Conservatives uniting to stop the Left wing insanity through education, networking, working to get out the vote, and voting.

[Servant of the Cross]

Start preparing the legal briefs for suing 0bama over his unlawful and unconstitutional takeovers of industry and compensation, Inspector General firings, scandalous DOJ dismissal of racist thuggery, targeting of law abiding citizens who believe in the constitution and its republic form of government (in favor of state or local authority over federal), etc. If they go down this path, all disagreement over policy is fair game for lawsuits.

[PA-RIVER]

Time for another Dick Cheney speech.

The gang in the white house is making me sick to my stomach. Cheney needs to give them a good spanking, again.

[anniegetyourgun]

As of 11/4/08, it was replaced by the War On Bush.

[Maelstorm]

They don’t want to really go here do they? Some day the left will know what torture is when the gates of America are torn down and the Muslim hoards fill the streets. The irony is that it may be the Muslims that save us from liberalism but at what cost? It is pretty clear that it is the Muslim vote that is helping shift Europe back to conservatism.

[Polarik]

"Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct."

Meaning it's time to drag into court, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Barnie Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Eric Holder, and every other 'Rat government official who are responsible for causing the mortgage meltdown, the economic crisis, and ACORN voter fraud.

[fhayek]

The thought police will prosecute you if you offer a dissenting opinion. George Orwell was just a quarter century off.

[Munz]

see how many people want to go after terrorists now thanksto this ruling and obama’s policy.
we are so screwed.

[SeminoleSoldier]

But those were GOOD policy decisions, so anything bad that happened later could not possibly have resulted from them. /SARC

[benjibrowder]

Thats nice. Since we’re setting the precedent for this, might as well sue the bastard that thought it was okay to screw over secured bondholders.