Yoo's lawyers warn of flood of political suits

[seafan]

Source: SF Chronicle

A ruling that allowed a prisoner to sue former Bush administration attorney John Yoo for devising the legal theories that justified his alleged torture threatens to "open the floodgates to politically motivated lawsuits" against government officials, Yoo's lawyers say.
In papers filed late Monday with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Yoo's new team of private lawyers argued that a judge's refusal to dismiss a suit by inmate Jose Padilla injected the courts into the political arena.

.....

Padilla was arrested in Chicago in 2002 and accused of plotting with al Qaeda to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb." He was held as an enemy combatant in a Navy brig for three years and eight months, then was taken out of the brig and charged with taking part in an unrelated conspiracy to provide money and supplies to Islamic extremist groups. He was convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Padilla's suit against Yoo covers his time in the brig. He says the government detained him illegally, denied him contact with the outside world for nearly two years, kept him for lengthy periods in darkness and blinding light, subjected him to temperature extremes, confined him in painful stress positions and threatened him with death.

Padilla says Yoo, a member of a Bush administration planning group known as the "war council," reviewed and approved his detention in the brig and provided the legal cover for his abusive treatment. .....
In his June 12 ruling, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco said government lawyers, like any other officials, are "responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct." He said Padilla had a right to sue the "alleged architect of the government policy" on enemy combatants.






Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/11/BANU1AI2PI.DTL

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Lower the boom on John Yoo and the rest of the Bush Administration torture ghouls. NOW.

[annabanana]

1. Nope. . Hopefully a flood of FULLY JUSTIFIED lawsuits against

criminal torturers & murderers who dragged this Country through the mud and destroyed our name in the world.

[naaman fletcher]

9. This suit will surely lose.

Yoo was a lawyer advising his client. Judges are lawyers. They will never allow this.


The point is that Bush and Cheney should be in jail. Going after their lawyer instead is not going to work.

[unaffiliated liberal]

13. You may be right

But the fact that Bush and Cheney aren't in jail, and that the Obama administration CHOSE not to go after them (even as every wacky right-wing lunatic goes after Obama), is the reason I'm now an unaffiliated liberal.

So far, IMO, all we got for all our trouble is four more years.

[zeemike]

14. Yes he was but he was also a government official.

And if he took any action in approving this specific case he acted as an official.

[dotymed]

18. Ever hear of

Nuremberg? It's just like ignorance is no excuse for breaking
the law....Neither is a "command" if the person
knows the difference between right and wrong.

[atreides1]

19. So what you're saying

Is that if a government official commits murder, it's okay if they were acting in an official capacity?

[zeemike]

22. Ooops I thought it was too me..

I was saying that they had a shot at prosecuting because the actions were not about attorney client privlage....he acted as a government official.

[NecklyTyler]

17. Charges against Yoo only have to go far enough to get him to turn State's Evidence

Once one of the Bush cabal testifies against another co-conspirator, the dam will be breached. The finger pointing and deal cutting will hang them all

[zeemike]

23. Well when it happens I will laugh my ass off.

Cause that is what they did against Clinton.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Oh, RIGHT.

As though the courts have never been involved in politics...:eyes:

By all means, lower the boom on all those corrupt criminals.

K&R

[Swede Atlanta]

3. This suit isn't going anywhere......

I wish it was but even if it is eventually heard by the 9th Circuit in San Francisco, en banc or before the full Circuit, the Supremes will overturn this. They will, rightly or wrongly, say this is a political matter that is beyond the purview of the court and will agree this will open the floodgates of litigation. If Scalia and Thomas both retired or left the court to be replaced by more liberal justices there might be a chance. But looking at who Obama nominated as his first appointee we aren't likely to see a very liberal court majority as long as he is President.

[Bette Noir]

6. Don't give up before it plays out.

The Supremes have surprised us before. I'd like to see a suit filed by everyone who was illegally detained and/or tortured. Shame the administration into looking into criminal charges.

[Roland99]

4. First! (to say....)

Fuck Yoo!!


;-)

[Demeter]

5. Politically Motivated? How About Justice and Revenge Motivated?

Yoo should be glad people aren't shooting him down in the street like the dog he is. He's hurt and killed a lot of people by his "legal" means.

He should thank god every day that his victims are using legal means to redress their injuries. Yes, Yoo! EVERYBODY was hurt by your legal fictions.

[Qutzupalotl]

7. I call bullshit.

No one can sue without standing. You have to have been a victim of torture. So how can that be "politically motivated"?

And "injecting the courts into the political arena"? WTF?! Yoo had no problem injecting his legal opinions into the political arena when it suited his purposes.

This is a desperate attempt to distract attention by a guilty, guilty man.

[BootinUp]

8. Open those fucking flood gates and release the damned shit already!

Hoping he is correct.

[tularetom]

10. I think the courts injected themselves into the political arena when SCOTUS

chose an asshole to be our sorta president in 2000.

They'd have a hard time pretending that never happened,

How much fucking further could they already be "injected into the political process".

[wtmusic]

21. +1. nt

[rrneck]

11. I'd love it but

Orly Taitz and the rest of the wingnuts would love to keep people in court over a bunch of made up bullshit. That's a sword that cuts both ways. Remember what Bill Clinton had to put up with over a lie about a blowjob?

[swilton]

12. Whether or Not There Will be a Flood of Lawsuits

Seems tangential to the issue that the judge should be deciding - GUILT OR INNOCENCE

I say Bring em On!

[JoeyT]

15. Good. A flood of lawsuits is exactly what's needed.

Don't feel bad war criminals: Our hearts bleed for Yoo.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. Your Karma at work, John Yoo

I hope you and everyone who approved of torturing "enemy combatants" is sued till they're reduced to begging for spare change on street corners.

[katty]

20. great! bring 'em on!!

[Uncle Joe]

24. Floodgates, flood, flooding where have I heard that before?

Oh yeah, flooding as in like water boarding, water torture; also known as war crimes.

I hope Yoo Hoo testifies against the war criminal, terrorists; that forced him to make such decisions quickly so he doesn't drown.:scared:

Thanks for the thread, seafan.

[ArbustoBuster]

25. If Yoo can't do the time, don't do the crime.

(I have way too much fun with Yoo's name.)

:evilgrin:

But more seriously, it's a perversion of justice to say that allowing a legitimate legal action to proceed would then cause more legal action. The function of the courts for them is to be used by the people, not for them to stand on a hill looking shiny and regal.

[nadinbrzezinski]

27. Don't happen just on high profile cases

trust me on this...

But if it does, well them Mr Yoo you got yourself into this by violating so many principles!!!!!

[Forkboy]

26. So be it.

[Buzz Clik]

28. Poor baby. He tried to rewrite the Constitution from the Office of Legal Counsel, and now he's mad.

Maybe he'd be happier if we sent him to jail. I'd be happier.

[Bonobo]

29. You thought you were safe from the consequences of your actions, Yoo. Well guess what?

[Canuckistanian]

30. Like the legal memos weren't "politically motivated"

A few pieces of paper that overruled over 200 years of ironclad American law.

Good luck to Padilla.

[existentialist]

31. Let us remember that the lawsuit brought by John Wilkes

Against the ministers of George III, in which he was awarded and allowed to keep punitive damages, form a substantial part of the basis of our constitutional rights.

[Are_grits_groceries]

32. Bring it on!

I've got a boat stocked for just this occasion.

I'll even live here for a while if need be: