Politico reported yesterday that Obama’s lawyers are prepping to defend John Yoo next week by moving to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Jose Padilla. Padilla seeks a declaration that Yoo’s legal memos that purported to authorize torture were unconstitutional. Obama presumably does not plan to support torture or the torture memos. Instead, Obama may argue that the case should be dismissed in order to protect governmental prerogatives, like immunity for government officials acting within the scope of their employment or state secrets. While any of these defenses may have legal validity, what about protecting the public’s prerogative to the rule of law? And, does the US want to continue shielding our government officials from torture liability while prosecuting foreign officials to hold them individually accountable?
Tag: padilla
Jan 30 2009