[Sosfbay-discuss] Berkeley Torture Mastermind Could Face Disbarment

[Edward]

The following article may be of interest.-Edward

Professor John Yoo Could Face DisbarmentBy Katie Meyer for The Daily CalifornianFriday, May 8, 2009

Lawyers who advised the Bush administration on interrogation
techniques-including UC Berkeley law professor John Yoo-will likely not
undergo criminal investigation, according to an internal U.S.
Department of Justice inquiry that was released Wednesday. 

The report by the department's Office of Professional
Responsibility instead recommends the former Office of Legal Counsel
lawyers have their legal licenses revoked. 

Yoo, who authored memos supporting the legality of techniques
such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation, may be disbarred if the
State Bar of Pennsylvania acts on the report, said Stephen Rosenbaum,
lecturer at Boalt Hall School of Law. 

The report, which will be published this summer, may affect his
Boalt tenure, according to Boalt spokesperson Susan Gluss. Yoo is
currently on leave as a visiting professor at Chapman University School
of Law in Orange, California. 

"One can argue about the appropriateness of someone teaching in
a law school who has expressed those interpretations of the law,"
Rosenbaum said. 

In the memos, Yoo argued that interrogation techniques should match the suspected crimes of detainees. 

"One may not use deadly force in response to a threat that does
not rise to death or serious bodily harm," Yoo wrote to the Defense
Department in March 2003. "If such harm may result, however, deadly
force is appropriate." 

Campus and UC officials will ultimately decide whether Yoo will
stay on campus if he is disbarred, according to Christopher Kutz, a law
professor and vice chair of the campus's Academic Senate. 

Boalt Hall Dean Christopher Edley has consistently defended Yoo's tenure, citing First Amendment rights. 

"The dean is always mindful of the interplay between academic
freedom, which is the right to express an opinion no matter how vile or
odious, and the need for law professors to abide by the highest ethical
and professional standards," Gluss said. 

She said Edley will review the report before deciding if Yoo should lose his position at Boalt.
Boalt faculty do not have to be members of the bar, but being disbarred may cast doubt on Yoo's ability to teach law, said Kutz. 

"I do not believe that the memos are professionally adequate
statements about the law, nor did the Justice Department-they
repudiated all the memos written by John Yoo," he said.
Stephanie Tang, an organizer for  the anti-war group World Can't Wait, said Yoo's tenure is unethical. 

"We think that the dean is wrong, that academic freedom does not
protect the construction of the legal green light for the Bush
administration to carry out torture," she said.
			


      
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