Posted on 01/10/2008 4:00:55 AM PST by Aristotelian
John Yoo can be forgiven if he's having second thoughts about his career choice. A Yale Law School graduate, the Berkeley professor of law went on to serve his country at the Justice Department. Yet last week he was sued by convicted terrorist Jose Padilla and his mother, who are represented by none other than lawyers at Yale. Perhaps if Mr. Yoo had decided to pursue a life of terrorism, he too could be represented by his alma mater.
Padilla is the American citizen who was arrested in 2002, and detained as an "enemy combatant" in a military brig in Charleston, S.C., under suspicion of plotting to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a U.S. city. Padilla fought his detention on Constitutional grounds, losing his case in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In January 2006, the feds transferred him out of military custody to be tried in civilian court in Miami. The dirty bomb charge was never filed because the military hadn't read him his Miranda rights or provided him a lawyer when he was interrogated. A jury nonetheless took a day and half last August to convict him of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas. Padilla could get life in prison.
(snip)
What we really have here is less a tort claim than a political stunt intended to intimidate government officials. Nothing in the claim will change Padilla's future. . . . the Yale attorneys are using Padilla as a legal prop in one more attempt to find a judge willing to declare that the Bush Administration's antiterror policies are illegal. And if it can harass Mr. Yoo with bad publicity and legal costs along the way, so much the better.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
So what is the reason he is being sued over and for how much damages?
An example of a good reason that enemy combatants and traitors should not be handled by the court system. They are going to use our own system against us until we decide to convict and treat them for what they are. The enemy.
The antiwar left has failed to overturn U.S. policies in Congress, or by directly challenging the government in court. So its latest tactic is suing third parties, such as the telephone companies that cooperated on al Qaeda wiretaps after 9/11. And now it is suing former government officials, hoping to punish them and deter future appointees from offering any advice that the left dislikes.
Not only the left, but the Muslims (in the Padilla case, we have a twofer), have found the courts to be their most successful point of attack. The "flying imams," for example, are busy suing the captain and crew of the flight they were on and even attempted to sue the passengers who had complained about their behavior. And this latest suit, filed by a convicted terrorist and something called the "Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic" at Yale Law School, is just part of this strategy.
Padilla should have gone the way of McVeigh years ago.
thanks. sorry, I missed your link.
Okay, how about an abuse of process suit against the Elis?
It does raise the interesting question of why we have so many lawyers. One reason, we have too many laws. Another, lawyers are paid too much. And why are they paid too much? Because they are a closed shop. Barriers to entry keep their fees up.
The "way of McVeigh" was to be arrested, jailed, represented by counsel, tried, convicted and executed. That after he killed 186 people. There is no evidence Padilla killed anyone.
More to the point, McVeigh was not held in military custody for years without legal recourse or access to counsel.
If we insist on due process rights for American citizens, the terrorists win.
McVeigh was a US vet, just like John Kerry.
Um, that's true, but I don't see how it's relevant. The point is, he was a murderer who got a lawyer, a speedy trial, and a needle in his arm.
The real litigant here is the National Litigation Project at the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School.
That sounds august, but this is really a leftwing bucket shop using Yale’s sponsorship to achieve antiwar policy goals via lawsuit.
We trust the dean of Yale Law, Harold Koh, is proud of suing an alumnus on behalf of a terrorist, and that Yale’s other alumni know how their donations are being used.
Underhanded attempt to undermine all attempts for America to defend itself. Incredible.
& thanks for the ping.
It’s ALWAYS the Ivy League schools. It never fails.
Who invited Ahmadinejad to speak? Columbia
Who took $20 million from the Saudis for an Islamic studies program? Harvard
Who’s located in the City of Evil? Cornell
Who’s coddling to this terrorist at their law school? Yale
Thanks for that to the point analysis.
It is from the article.
Whoops. heheh.
Thurston Howell ping. Thanks george76.
Abuse of process is intended to protect people from frivolous law suits.
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