Padilla v. Yoo: cleared to sue a key player in George W. Bush's 'war on terror.'

[laststeamtrain]

Padilla v. Yoo
The man once accused of being a 'dirty bomber' is cleared to sue a key player in George W. Bush's 'war on terror.'

Saturday, June 20, 2009

JOHN YOO provided key -- and, we believe, wrong -- legal advice that gave the Bush administration cover for many of its dubious "war on terror" policies. But a judge's decision to allow accused "dirty-bomber" Jose Padilla to proceed with a lawsuit against Mr. Yoo is troubling.

Mr. Padilla, a U.S. citizen, was detained in 2002 after law-enforcement officials suspected him of plotting to detonate a radiological "dirty bomb" in the United States. Mr. Padilla was never tried for this alleged offense; he was instead labeled an enemy combatant and imprisoned in a South Carolina brig without access to counsel or any semblance of due process. Mr. Padilla alleges in his lawsuit that he was subjected to harsh treatment -- from extreme temperatures to sleep and sensory deprivation to solitary confinement -- that violated his constitutional rights and amounted to torture. Mr. Padilla claims that Mr. Yoo should be held personally liable because his legal work on terrorism issues set the foundation for such abuses. Mr. Padilla was ultimately charged and convicted in federal court on terrorism-related charges having nothing to do with the alleged dirty-bomb plot, but not before spending nearly five years in a legal netherworld. Mr. Padilla is seeking $1 in damages -- an amount that his lawyers say proves Mr. Padilla is not in this for the money.

Government officials are usually immune from lawsuits for acts they undertake in their official capacity. Yet Judge Jeffrey S. White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California declined to dismiss the suit because he concluded 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." ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061903116.html
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The Poost don't like it. Fuck them.

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[lunatica]

2. So will Yoo roll over on Bush to save his own skin?

I suspect he's quite the coward when it's his life that's affected. The reason he's taking a Sabatical from UC Berkeley is because he can't stand being harassed by protesters.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

3. Padilla is a US citizen.He has every right to sue Yoo.

He's not doing it for the money and his lawyers aren't either.

I agree - Fuck em.