Patterico's Pontifications

12/8/2009

DOJ Seeks Dismissal of Yoo Torture Suit

Filed under: Law,Obama,Terrorism — DRJ @ 10:56 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

In January 2008, Jose Padilla sued John Yoo over Yoo’s advice to President George W. Bush regarding Padilla’s detention, the conditions of his confinement and the methods of his interrogation. Last week, the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice responded that these are all “matters of war and national security” that are beyond judicial authority and requested that Padilla’s case be dismissed:

“The Obama administration has asked an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing former Bush administration attorney John Yoo of authorizing the torture of a terrorism suspect, saying federal law does not allow damage claims against lawyers who advise the president on national security issues.

Such lawsuits ask courts to second-guess presidential decisions and pose “the risk of deterring full and frank advice regarding the military’s detention and treatment of those determined to be enemies during an armed conflict,” Justice Department lawyers said Thursday in arguments to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.”

Yoo is being represented by Miguel Estrada who argued dismissal is appropriate because “the case interfered with presidential war-making authority and threatened to ‘open the floodgates to politically motivated lawsuits’ against government officials.” The Obama Administration agreed on narrower grounds, claiming Yoo could still be subject to criminal prosecution or State Bar disciplinary proceedings.

H/T Neo, with my thanks.

— DRJ

10 Responses to “DOJ Seeks Dismissal of Yoo Torture Suit”

  1. Maybe I’m being too simplistic about this, but seriously . . . the guy — lawyer or no — that tells the president “In my opinion this is legal” could have been successfully sued for giving that advice?

    Icy Texan (8b985a) — 12/8/2009 @ 11:10 pm

  2. Icy,

    A federal district judge ruled in June that the lawsuit could continue. Here’s the short version and there’s more at the link:

    Mr. Yoo, as part of a senior administrative group called the War Council, helped to shape Bush administration policy in the war on terrorism, and as deputy attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel from 2001 to 2003, wrote many memorandums authorizing harsh treatment. Mr. Yoo had argued that he should be immune from the suit because it was not clearly established that the treatment would be unconstitutional.

    Judge White, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, rejected all but one of Mr. Yoo’s immunity claims and found that Mr. Padilla “has alleged sufficient facts to satisfy the requirement that Yoo set in motion a series of events that resulted in the deprivation of Padilla’s constitutional rights.”

    DRJ (84a0c3) — 12/8/2009 @ 11:16 pm

  3. Oh, I see. “Yoo set in motion a series of events”. He orchestrated the whole thing. He didn’t just advise President Bush on what he could do, he actually told President Bush what to do.

    And all this time we were told that Cheney was the puppet-master.

    Hey! Can I sue Rahm Emanuel?

    Icy Texan (8b985a) — 12/8/2009 @ 11:26 pm

  4. Please tell me why, if this suit is allowed to continue, any lawyer working for the Government would ever proffer any opinion about anything in the future?
    This is opening a window to a world of anarchy.

    Hey, Icy. Come to CA, you can sue virtually anybody over anything here.
    Rahm??? The way he’s going, law-suits would be the least of his problems; so, have at it!

    AD - RtR/OS! (e93189) — 12/9/2009 @ 1:17 am

  5. Really, AD? Can I sue the CA Supreme Court for falsely declaring a constitutional right to marriage where no such article actually exists?

    Icy Texan (8b985a) — 12/9/2009 @ 1:45 am

  6. Sure, you can sue…call Cyrus Sinai.
    Not saying your cause is without merit, but Cyrus is used to that, just look at the crap he takes to court from his own family.
    On second thought, find another lawyer, one who hasn’t pissed-off about every judge in the 9th-Circuit.

    AD - RtR/OS! (e93189) — 12/9/2009 @ 2:01 am

  7. heh, example 4011 of how democrats change their minds on things when they are in power.

    A.W. (e7d72e) — 12/9/2009 @ 5:29 am

  8. Well, at least Yoo’s got a very good lawyer. (One that might well have been on the Supreme Court by now had things not been so, you know, political during an earlier Court of Appeals confirmation situation.)

    elissa (00d7c2) — 12/9/2009 @ 6:58 am

  9. “Judge White, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, rejected all but one of Mr. Yoo’s immunity claims….” NYT: when a Republican appoints a judge/justice who finds against a conservative, you know the man is super guilty.

    tmac (5559f7) — 12/9/2009 @ 3:15 pm

  10. tmac, that is amusing. Of course, it’s an argument that Bush didn’t appoint crooks, but the NYT thinks people appointed by Bush would try hard to let Bush’s friends off the hook… even as they stare at proof that’s not the case.

    Icy, I believe you can sue anyone for anything. Cases that have no way to win, for various reasons, are thrown out, but these judges get claims against them all the time for things like that.

    Dustin (44f8cb) — 12/9/2009 @ 3:20 pm


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