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.

[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.