DOJ to Rescue of John Yoo-seeks to make absolute the immunity granted lawyers who counsel torture

[kpete]

DOJ to the Rescue… of John Yoo

By Scott Horton

The Holder Justice Department has filed a sweeping amicus brief in the Padilla v. Yoo case before the Ninth Circuit, seeking to make absolute the immunity granted Justice Department lawyers who counsel torture, disappearings, and other crimes against humanity. The case was brought by Jose Padilla, who claims that he was tortured as the direct result of memoranda written by Yoo, now a law professor at Berkeley. At this stage, the case does not address the factual basis of Padilla’s claims, but documents that have been declassified by the Department of Justice make it clear that the charges have a firm basis in fact. Here’s the portion of the opinion authored by a lifelong Republican, Bush-appointed judge that the Justice Department found so objectionable:
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/06/hbc-90005198

Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct….

The Holder Justice Department insists that they are absolutely not responsible, and that they are free to act according to a far lower standard of conduct than that which governs Americans generally. Indeed, this has emerged as a sort of ignoble mantra for the Justice Department, uniting both the Bush and Obama administrations.

According to the allegations in the suit, Padilla’s extraordinary regimen of abuse was imposed only after John Yoo personally gave it a green light, knowing that the torture prescription awaited his say-so. The result was long-term physical and psychological damage. Yoo’s outlandish opinions have been rescinded, but the question remains: can a Justice Department lawyer be held to account for grossly incompetent and unethical work that results in severe physical harm? It’s long been a tenet of federal law that agents of the government who are responsible for torturing individuals may be held to account for their conduct. The Holder Justice Department has been working feverishly to overturn this law, at least as it applies to employees of the Justice Department. With the solid backing of Republican-appointed judges on the Second Circuit, they achieved a major breakthrough on the Second Circuit in the Maher Arar case. Now they’re peddling the same pap to the Ninth Circuit.

more:
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/12/hbc-90006184
http://harpers.org/media/image/blogs/misc/doj_amicus.pdf

[autorank]

1. #1

"In a time of universal deceit,
telling the truth is a revolutionary act"

- George Orwell

The truth is we're a lawless nation when it comes to the upper echelons. There is a mutual protection
pact that is honored again and again. That's why nobody at or near the top, above a certain line,
ever gets to face the law. They're all in on it to varying degrees and, therefore, they're all
guilty (e.g., opposing the Iraq war but voting for funding - GUILTY!!!). They know this and the
silent partnership of aggression at home and abroad is protected so the guilty skate and the innocenet
pay.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. the last stretch of barb wire

[QC]

3. Genius! Sheer genius!

[MNDemNY]

5. Yup this is the move I was waiting for!!!

We're almost there!!!!!

[QC]

6. Just wait! It will all come together suddenly, when no one is expecting it! n/t

[Bluebear]

7. Quiet. You don't deserve this administration.

'Even if you want to perform a little fellatio here and cunnilingus there.'

:crazy:

[QC]

8. True. We don't deserve this president.

But it looks like we're stuck with him just the same.

[MNDemNY]

9. What do you mean?

He has ended two wars, ended DADT, repealed DOMA, got us Universal health care, closed gitmo and brought the war criminals to justice!! All that is left to do is a fresh coat of paint on the schools and where all done!

[QC]

10. I'm still waiting for a hat like Aretha's.

Why hasn't it arrived yet?

[Bluebear]

12. They bitched about her hat here too!

[QC]

16. They are worse than Hitler. n/t

[autorank]

19. Or is it perhaps Sub Genius

The Church of the Sub Genius - "Slack Off"

[aquart]

4. Protecting John Yoo is not a concern of mine.

But I would be happy to guard his corpse so that it is not savaged.

[Neecy]

11. Laying the groundwork

for one set of laws for the rulers, another for the ruled.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

13. Don't we already have that?

sigh

[JDPriestly]

14. A lawyer's first obligation is to be forthright and honest with the court

and, as a necessary corollary, to obey the law.

But a lawyer also has an obligation to serve and be loyal to his or her clients. An experienced lawyer learns to control clients in this regard. By "control," I mean that the lawyer learns to be, at the same time, loyal to the client but also loyal to the law. Achieving that balance is a test of a lawyer's moral character.

It is often difficult to judge whether a lawyer passes that test, because the law is not written in stone. Lawyers are supposed to attempt to interpret the law so as to help their clients. In addition, the law is extremely complex. Lawyers make a lot of honest mistakes. Lawyers frequently interpret a law for the client only to have a court reject the lawyer's interpretation.

Lawyers often identify closely on an emotional or intellectual level with a client and are drawn in by the client's desire to cheat or disobey the law in order to achieve a certain result. That is most likely the case with Yoo.

Also, as much as a lawyer warns clients about the limits of the law, clients will not always listen or understand. Clients tend to hear the lawyer say what they want to hear.

So, it isn't easy to decide what caused Yoo to write the memos he wrote. Most likely, he just wanted to please his clients and did not have the strength to stand up to them.

Yoo also probably made another error often made by lawyers who represent corporations as well as the board and officers of the corporation. He did not know who his client was. If he was working for the Justice Department, his client was not Bush and the administration but was the American people. His memos were written to please his bosses and not to carry out the law.

This is especially true in so far as he wrote memos stating that waterboarding was permitted by law. Had he reviewed the history on this, he would have learned that George Washington prohibited the United States from using torture on prisoners of war and that established a tradition so deep that it did not really need further codifications or legal decisions. He would also have learned that waterboarding has long been considered to be a form of torture.

The Justice Department has a tough decision to make. They should go after those in the highest positions who approved torture. The use of torture is for many reasons completely incompatible with government by the people. Yoo took us headlong toward a government by dictators. For that he should pay dearly, but the best thing would be to disbar him or try him as we try other lawyers who assist clients in disobeying the law. We have imprisoned Mafia lawyers for this sort of thing.

[jaysunb]

15. Don't think it'll fly in the 9th Circuit.

:shrug:

Too many free thinkers among the court. At least I hope so.....

[undeterred]

17. Absolutely nauseating.

[Bluebear]

18. kick

[G_j]

20. nobody can grant immunity for war crimes,

it seems even attempting to do such a thing, should be a crime in itself.


I wish they would all be summoned to the Hague.

[Mr. Sparkle]

21. outrageous! it is an invite for republicans to keep on bringng back their crooked lawyer's

to literally get away with murder. I can see why Obama's approval rating is now dipping. There has been so many bad decisions like this in the last few weeks that they are begging to pile up. I don't know if it is right to blame Obama for this, since the office of attorney general is supposed to be independent, but he is an Obama appointee.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

22. I guess this doesn't really warrant any attention.

I'm going to :kick: it anyway, though.

[G_j]

23. kick

[Solly Mack]

24. Sickening

k/r