Judge rules terrorist can sue over torture memos

By DON THOMPSON – 6 hours ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A convicted terrorist can sue a former Bush
administration lawyer for drafting the legal theories that led to his
alleged torture, ruled a federal judge has ruled who said he was trying
to balance a clash between war and the defense of personal freedoms.

The order by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco is the
first time a government lawyer has been held potentially liable for the
abuse of detainees.

White refused to dismiss Jose Padilla's lawsuit against former senior
Justice Department official John Yoo on Friday. Yoo wrote memos on
interrogation, detention and presidential powers for the department's
Office of Legal Counsel from 2001 to 2003.

Padilla, 38, is serving a 17-year sentence on terror charges. He claims
he was tortured while being held nearly four years as a suspected terrorist.

White ruled Padilla may be able to prove that Yoo's memos "set in motion
a series of events that resulted in the deprivation of Padilla's
constitutional rights."

"Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible
for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct," wrote White, a Bush
appointee.

Yoo did not return telephone and e-mail messages Saturday.

White ruled that Yoo, now a University of California at Berkeley law
professor, went beyond the normal role of an attorney when he helped
write the Bush administration's detention and torture policies, then
drafted legal opinions to justify those policies.

Yoo's recently released 2001 memo advised that the military could use
"any means necessary" to hold terror suspects. A 2002 memo to then-White
House Counsel Alberto Gonzales advised that treatment of suspected
terrorists was torture only if it caused pain levels equivalent to
"organ failure, impairment of bodily function or even death." Yoo also
advised that the president might have the constitutional power to allow
torturing enemy combatants.

"The issues raised by this case embody that ... tension — between the
requirements of war and the defense of the very freedoms that war seeks
to protect," White wrote in his 42-page decision. "This lawsuit poses
the question addressed by our founding fathers about how to strike the
proper balance of fighting a war against terror, at home and abroad, and
fighting a war using tactics of terror."

The ruling rejected the government's arguments that the courts are
barred from examining top-level administration decisions in wartime, or
that airing "allegations of unconstitutional treatment of an American
citizen on American soil" would damage national security or foreign
relations.

The Justice Department is representing Yoo and has argued for dismissing
the lawsuit. The department has not said if it will appeal White's
ruling. The department's on-duty spokesman, Dean Boyd, did not return a
telephone message Saturday.

"It's a really a significant victory for accountability and our
constitutional system of checks and balances," said Tahlia Townsend, an
attorney with the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale
Law School who represented Padilla.

White ruled that "the treatment we allege does violate the Constitution
and John Yoo should have known that," Townsend said Saturday. "This is
the first time there's been this sort of ruling."

Padilla is an American citizen who was arrested in Chicago in 2002 and
accused of conspiring with al-Qaida to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb."

He was held in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., for three years and
eight months as an enemy combatant. Padilla's lawsuit alleges Yoo
personally approved his time and treatment in the brig.

His lawsuit alleges he was illegally detained and was subjected to sleep
deprivation, temperature extremes, painful stress positions, and
extended periods of bright lights and total darkness. Padilla also
alleges he endured threats that he would be killed, that his family
would be harmed, and that he would be transferred to another country to
be tortured.

He eventually was charged in an unrelated conspiracy to funnel money and
supplies to Islamic extremist groups. Padilla was convicted in 2007 in
Miami federal court, and is appealing.

--
The modern GOP is little more than an army of moral absolutists led by a
gang of moral nihilists.

On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:05:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Judge rules terrorist can sue over torture memos

Isn't that cute - Harry is up to his usual bull****.

This will get tossed out on appeal faster than you can say it.

Moron.

On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:22:27 -0400, Wizard of Woodstock wrote:

On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:05:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Judge rules terrorist can sue over torture memos

Isn't that cute - Harry is up to his usual bull****.

This will get tossed out on appeal faster than you can say it.

Moron.

Yeah, but, guilt or innocence aside, Padilla is an American citizen.
Allowing our government to hold *any* American citizen for nearly four
years without charges, makes a complete travesty of the rule of law.

On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:22:27 -0400, Wizard of Woodstock
wrote:

On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:05:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Judge rules terrorist can sue over torture memos

Isn't that cute - Harry is up to his usual bull****.

This will get tossed out on appeal faster than you can say it.

Moron.

Oh, you're a trial lawyer now who can place odds and predict the
obvious outcome?

Who's the moron? Did Harry file the suit? Is Harry the judge?

Who is your anger and disgust aimed at? Do you know?

On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 01:42:43 -0500, thunder
wrote:

On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:22:27 -0400, Wizard of Woodstock wrote:

On Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:05:28 -0400, HK wrote:

Judge rules terrorist can sue over torture memos

Isn't that cute - Harry is up to his usual bull****.

This will get tossed out on appeal faster than you can say it.

Moron.

Yeah, but, guilt or innocence aside, Padilla is an American citizen.
Allowing our government to hold *any* American citizen for nearly four
years without charges, makes a complete travesty of the rule of law.

But...but...but...he's a terrorist!!!