Berkeley Law Students to Launch Torture Accountability Initiative

Berkeley Daily Planet ^ | 10/9/9 | Riya Bhattacharjee

[SmithL]

A group of UC Berkeley law students will launch a torture accountability initiative next week dedicated to holding the authors of the infamous torture memos accountable, reinstating respect for the prohibition against torture and ending executive abuse of power and impunity.

Called the Boalt Alliance to Abolish Torture (B.A.A.T.), at their kick-off Oct. 13 the group will host a panel of lawyers and legal academics to discuss the memos crafted by the Bush administration’s legal counsels at the Department of Justice, including Berkeley Law Professor John Yoo.

Yoo, who spent the previous semester at Chapman University, returned to the UC Berkeley School of Law, formerly Boalt Hall School of Law, this fall to teach Civil Procedures II. He was met with protests from students, alumni and activists on the first day of class.

Berkeley law school Dean Christopher Edley has defended Yoo’s actions on the basis of academic freedom, saying in a public statement that the university would carefully review the Justice Department’s internal ethics investigation findings regarding the authors of the torture memos upon its release.

Berkeley Law student and alliance member Megan Schuller said that Tuesday’s presentation is part of Ending Torture Month, a series of events and advocacy efforts scheduled to take place at Boalt Hall through mid-November.

Stanford Law School senior lecturer Allen Weiner, visiting Berkeley law school associate professor Gowri Ramachandran, Berkeley law school lecturer John Steele and McGeorge School of Law professor John Sims will be discussing topics ranging from international and constitutional law to national security law and professional ethics at a panel titled "Tortured Justice: Why the Torture Memos were Illegal," at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13 at the Booth Auditorium at UC Berkeley's School of Law. The panel will be followed by a 10-minute film, Tortured Law, by Alliance for Justice.

[SmithL]

Melissa Mikesell, senior counsel for Alliance for Justice West, will also take part in the panel, which is being co-sponsored by at least a dozen social justice and student organizations, including the National Lawyers Guild–Boalt Chapter, Women of Color Collective, Boalt Muslim Students Association, South Asian Law Students Association, Law Students for Justice in Palestine and Alliance for Justice.

The Peoples Republic of Berkeley is STILL siding with terrorists.

[a fool in paradise]

There's a name for this sort of activity:

[HiTech RedNeck]

They torture the law, but it is left to others to give an account of what they did.

[Frank_2001]

“South Asian Law Students Association,”

Hey, wait a second, their acronym would be SALSA! The Hispanic students should protest!!/s;)

[jimfree]

Yoo, who spent the previous semester at Chapman University, returned to the UC Berkeley School of Law, formerly Boalt Hall School of Law, this fall to teach Civil Procedures II. He was met with protests from students, alumni and activists on the first day of class.

Perhaps he could better have taught uncivil procedures.

[sthguard]

No surprise that the paper is the Berkeley Daily Planet, as by all indications they live in their own world!

[SiVisPacemParaBellum]

They forgot the prefix...MoonB.A.A.T.s!

[17th Miss Regt]

How about if we launch a tort accountability initiative.

Let's see how these soon-to-be parasites would like that!

[ActrFshr]

They DO realize that enough investigation into this torture stuff will eventually also take down Boxer, Feinstein, Pelosi, Clinton, Obama, and other dems, don’t they?

[cranked]

Is not Berkeley the libtard Mecca?