Terror-War Fallout Lingers Over Bush Lawyers... What, if anything, should happen to these lawyers...

[BuyingThyme]

Terror-War Fallout Lingers Over Bush Lawyers
By CHARLIE SAVAGE and SCOTT SHANE
Published: March 8, 2009

WASHINGTON — When John C. Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer, was selected by President George W. Bush in May 2004 to join a government board charged with releasing historical Nazi and Japanese war crimes records, trouble quickly followed.

...

What, if anything, should happen to these lawyers — damage to their professional reputations, punishment by state bar associations, perhaps even prosecution at home or abroad — is now the subject of a lively debate in the legal world and beyond.

The calls to begin a criminal investigation of Bush legal team members have so far been ignored by the new attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr. But the demands reflect a widely shared view that the Bush administration lawyers played an outsize role in the disputed counterterrorism policies.

...

“I think people like Yoo will be taking their chances if they want to go to Europe for a very long time,” said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has asked a German prosecutor to indict several Bush legal team members along with policy makers. The prosecutor declined, but the case is on appeal.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/washington/09lawyers.html

[babylonsister]

1. I hope the 'terror' lingers for the rest of their lives, wherever they go.

Sweet!

[hlthe2b]

2. Lawyers were tried at Nuremberg and other post WWII trials...

Bring on the Tribunals, I say.

[aquart]

3. Hanging, disbarment, drawing and quartering...

What are my choices exactly?

[moundsview]

4. John Yoo

Is now a tenured law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, snug as a bug in a rug.

[JDPriestly]

5. California Code of Ethics

Rule 3-210. Advising the Violation of Law

A member shall not advise the violation of any law, rule, or ruling of a tribunal unless the member believes in good faith that such law, rule, or ruling is invalid. A member may take appropriate steps in good faith to test the validity of any law, rule, or ruling of a tribunal.

Discussion:

Rule 3-210 is intended to apply not only to the prospective conduct of a client but also to the interaction between the member and client and to the specific legal service sought by the client from the member. An example of the former is the handling of physical evidence of a crime in the possession of the client and offered to the member. (See People v. Meredith (1981) 29 Cal.3d 682 <175 Cal.Rptr. 612>.) An example of the latter is a request that the member negotiate the return of stolen property in exchange for the owner's agreement not to report the theft to the police or prosecutorial authorities. (See People v. Pic'l (1982) 31 Cal.3d 731 <183 Cal.Rptr. 685>.)

I have difficulty believing that Yoo could believe the some of the statements he made in the memos in good faith.