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"