Yalies (Heart) Padilla

The Wall Street Journal editorial board this morning publishes a piece entitled “Yale and the Terrorist“. Apparently, the Yale Law School is has filed charges against John Yoo, a Yalie himself, on behalf of Jose Padilla convicted al Qaeda terrorist, wannabe dirty bomber and ungrateful little snot-nosed punk. Yoo, then a Justice Department lawyer, now a Berkeley Law professor, is being sued for doing his job;

Mr. Yoo is the former deputy assistant attorney general who wrote memos laying out some of the legal parameters in the war on terror. Those memos most famously pertained to interrogation techniques, some of which were used against such enemy combatants as Padilla. Mr. Yoo long ago returned to Berkeley, and we are happy to say he sometimes writes for us.

Now, years later, Mr. Yoo is being harassed by a lawsuit claiming he is personally liable for writing those memos as a midlevel government official. “Defendant Yoo subjected Mr. Padilla to illegal conditions of confinement and treatment that shocks the conscience in violation of Mr. Padilla’s Fifth Amendment Rights to procedural and substantive due process,” the complaint asserts.

Of course, this is just a tactic by the terrorist-supporting, jackbooted thugs at National Litigation Project at the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School (faculty adviser; James J. Silk) who think that the only good terrorist is wearing a bomb vest and standing in a crowded mall.

What we really have here is less a tort claim than a political stunt intended to intimidate government officials. Nothing in the claim will change Padilla’s future, and the suit asks for only $1 in damages, plus legal fees. Instead, the suit seeks “a judgment declaring that the acts alleged herein are unlawful and violate the Constitution and laws of the United States.” In short, the Yale attorneys are using Padilla as a legal prop in one more attempt to find a judge willing to declare that the Bush Administration’s antiterror policies are illegal. And if it can harass Mr. Yoo with bad publicity and legal costs along the way, so much the better.

This is nasty business and would have damaging consequences if it worked. Government officials have broad legal immunity (save for criminal acts) precisely so they can make decisions without worrying about personal liability. If political appointees can be sued years later for advice that was accepted by their superiors, we will soon have a government run not by elected officials but by tort lawyers and judges.

It’s pure harassment by another group of snot-nosed punks who have absolutely nothing to gain by bringing this suit other than the accolades of the other ignorant rat shit bastards on the Left. It’s a perfect example of the Left abusing our system designed to protect the innocent for political brownie points – it’s Yale Law School’s ambulance-chaser prep school.

The Wall Street Journal says it best, though;

Perhaps if Mr. Yoo had decided to pursue a life of terrorism, he too could be represented by his alma mater.

Category: Antiwar crowd, Legal, Politics, Terror War