Timothy Flanigan: The torture memo lawyer no one is mentioning

[babsbunny]

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/04/timothy-flanigan-the-torture-memo-lawyer-no-one-is-mentioning/

The torture memos recently released by the Obama administration have focused interest on three of their authors: John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and Steven Bradbury. However, there's another lawyer involved in the creation of the torture memos whose name hasn't yet come into the discussion -- Timothy Flanigan.

Flanigan did not work for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel like the others. He was a deputy to then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales in 2001-02, when he helped craft some of the earliest justifications for the use of waterboarding and other forms of torture

Flanigan's career is particularly intriguing because of the odd manner in which he left the White House at the end of 2002 and went to work as the general counsel for Tyco International, where he engaged in what appear to have been deeply corrupt dealings with Jack Abramoff. I wrote up much of that story here a couple of months ago.

[seemslikeadream]

1. Flanigan may well argue for the return of the days of an "Imperial Presidency."

http://www.nndb.com/people/120/000104805/

Flanigan may well argue for the return of the days of an "Imperial Presidency." Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen cites a 1992 memorandum by Flanigan that was written while Acting Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice.
In that memorandum, Flanigan "described presidential non-enforcement authority in sweeping terms that would seem to allow the President to refuse to enforce any law that in his view is unconstitutional." In addition to blurring the traditional separation of powers, this radical philosophy leaves room for a dangerous arbitrariness in the enforcement of the law. It permits the ultimate authority in determining the constitutionality of a law not to lie with the judiciary, as the framers intended, but rather with the President -- and his Office of White House Counsel.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. Why is it whenever any GOPer declares America should "return" to the days when ...

... America allegedly supported some minor aspect of the GOP agenda, that time never existed?

[seemslikeadream]

2. Profile: Timothy E. Flanigan

http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=timothy_e._flanigan

Profile: Timothy E. Flanigan

Positions that Timothy E. Flanigan has held:

Deputy White House Counsel

Timothy E. Flanigan was a participant or observer in the following events:

(After 10:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Vice President Cheney Assembles Legal Team for Expanding Presidential Power

David Addington. According to an in-depth examination by the

Washington Post, within hours of the 9/11 attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney begins working to

secure additional powers for the White House. Cheney had plans in place to begin acquiring these

powers for the executive branch before the attacks, but had not begun to execute them.

Gathering the Team - David Addington, Cheney’s general counsel and legal adviser, had been walking

home after having to leave the now-evacuated Eisenhower Executive Office Building. He receives a

message from the White House telling him to turn around, because the vice president needs him. After

Addington joins Cheney in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC) below the East Wing of

the White House, the pair reportedly begin “contemplating the founding question of the legal

revolution to come: What extraordinary powers will the president need for his response?” Later in

the day, Addington connects by secure video with Timothy Flanigan, the deputy White House counsel,

who is in the White House Situation Room. John Yoo, the deputy chief of the Office of Legal Counsel,

is also patched in from the Justice Department’s command center. White House counsel Alberto

Gonzales joins them later. This forms the core legal team that Cheney will oversee after the

terrorist attacks. Associate White House counsel Bradford Berenson will later recall: “Addington,

Flanigan and Gonzales were really a triumvirate. was a supporting player.” Addington dominates

the group. Gonzales is there primarily because of his relationship with President Bush. He is not,

Yoo will later recall, “a law-of-war expert and have very developed views.” Along with

these allies, Cheney will provide what the Washington Post calls “the rationale and political muscle

to drive far-reaching legal changes through the White House, the Justice Department, and the

Pentagon,” which will free the president to fight the war on terror, “as he saw fit.”

Drafting the AUMF - The team begins drafting the document that will become the Authorization to Use

Military Force (AUMF—see October 10, 2002) passed by Congress for the assault on Afghanistan. In the

words of the group, the president is authorized “to use all necessary and appropriate force against

those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the

terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in

order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States.”

Extraordinarily Broad Language - The language is extraordinarily broad; Yoo will later explain that

they chose such sweeping language because “this war was so different, you can’t predict what might

come up.” The AUMF draft is the first of numerous attempts to secure broad powers for the

presidency, most justified by the 9/11 attacks. The Washington Post will later report, “In fact, the

triumvirate knew very well what would come next: the interception—without a warrant—of

communications to and from the United States” (see September 25, 2001).
9/12/2001; Unger, 2007, pp. 220-221; Washington Post, 6/24/2007]

[seemslikeadream]

3. Flanigan Withdraws as Nominee for Deputy Attorney General

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/07/AR2005100701354.html

By Dan Eggen and R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 8, 2005; Page A03

The Bush administration's choice for deputy attorney general has withdrawn his nomination amid mounting questions from Senate Democrats over his dealings with indicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and over his role in shaping controversial interrogation policies.

[seemslikeadream]

4. Mr. Flanigan declared that he does "not believe that the term 'inhumane' treatment is susceptible to

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092701593.html

Mr. Flanigan could not even bring himself to declare particularly barbaric interrogation tactics either legally or morally off-limits. Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) asked him about "waterboarding," mock executions, physical beatings and painful stress positions. Mr. Flanigan responded: "Whether a particular interrogation technique is lawful depends on the facts and circumstances," and without knowing these, "it would be inappropriate for me to speculate about the legality of the techniques you describe." And he reiterated that "inhumane" can't be coherently defined.

All of which is to say that anything short of outright torture goes -- or, at least, that nothing is absolutely forbidden. The Senate Judiciary Committee is likely to report Mr. Flanigan's nomination to the floor as early as tomorrow. Having only recently confirmed Mr. Gonzales despite his similar refusal to be pinned down, the committee isn't likely to draw the line at Mr. Flanigan. Still, it is an odious thing that the top two law enforcement officers of the United States will both be people who resort to evasive legalisms in response to simple questions about uncivilized conduct. Capt. Fishback should not have to be pleading with senators, as he is now doing, to give "clear standards of conduct that reflect the ideals risk their lives for."

[jkshaw]

6. I'm assuming Flanigan is a Mormon

At least he received his bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University and the school is for Mormon offspring.

[laststeamtrain]

5. Yeah..Timmy Flanigan. Not Tommy Flanagan. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[Supersedeas]

7. Eliana Davidson, Jerald Phifer, and William Haynes ought to be discussed too

[ColbertWatcher]

9. Interesting.

I'm going to start a page for him on the Truthiness Encyclopedia for everyone to post notes and links and whatever else you want ... just make sure to register a free account so no one can see your IP address and try to make it satirical (if not satirical, then sarcastic or ironic).

Opps, here's the link: http://www.wikiality.com/Timothy_Flanigan