Will Obama Admin defend John Yoo, author of the torture memos under Bush?

[TeamJordan23]

Judge: Will Obama Defend Yoo?
By: Josh Gerstein
March 5, 2009

A federal judge is asking the Obama administration if it’s sure it wants to proceed with the Bush administration’s defense of John Yoo, a former Justice Department attorney who authored some of the government’s most controversial legal opinions in the war on terror.

A man Bush ordered detained without charge for more than five years as an alleged enemy combatant, Jose Padilla , is suing Yoo over the legal opinions he issued. The suit claims that Yoo deliberately issued legal advice that encouraged violations of Padilla’s rights and that Yoo participated directly in decisions to incarcerate and torture him.

The Justice Department filed briefs last year arguing that the case be thrown out. A hearing on the motion is set for Friday morning in San Francisco before Judge Jeffrey White. In an order Thursday, he asked lawyers for both sides to address a series of questions, including some about the Obama administration’s commitment to defending Yoo.

“The current administration has signaled a significant change in policy regarding the treatment of detainees,” White wrote. “Have counsel for Yoo fully vetted their position in this case with the Obama administration? Is there any change in legal position as a result of the change in administration?”

A Justice Department spokesman, Matt Miller, said the department’s lawyers plan to appear in court Friday. However, he declined to say whether Obama’s political appointees have reviewed the case.

Earlier this week, the Justice Department publicly released several legal opinions written by Yoo, including one from 2002 in which he argued that Padilla’s detention by the military did not violate federal law. Many of Obama’s Justice Department appointees have sharply criticized Yoo’s opinions and the Bush administration’s overall legal strategy in the war on terror. A legal ethics expert told POLITICO earlier this year that Yoo would be well advised to retain his own lawyers in light of the criticism he has faced from Obama’s new appointees.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19700.html