Lawsuit Against Former Bush Official Over Torture Claims Can Proceed

Over at the NYT, this story by John Schwartz about a ruling issued Friday by a judge in San Francisco that allows a civil lawsuit to go forward against former Bush administration official John C. Yoo...

[L]awyers for the man suing Mr. Yoo, Jose Padilla, say it provides substantive interpretation of constitutional issues for all detainees and could have a broad impact.
Mr. Padilla was held as an "enemy combatant" in solitary confinement for more than three years in the Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. Mr. Padilla, who was convicted of supporting terrorism and other crimes, demands that Mr. Yoo be held accountable for actions that Mr. Padilla claims led to his being tortured.
During the time Mr. Padilla was held in the brig, according to his filings in the case, he "suffered gross physical and psychological abuse at the hands of federal officials as part off a systematic program of abusive interrogation intended to break down Mr. Padilla's humanity and his will to live."
In the 42-page ruling, Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco characterized the conflict as one that embodies the tension "between the requirements of war and the defense of the very freedoms that war seeks to protect."

Judge Allows Civil Lawsuit Over Claims of Torture (NYT, thanks Mark Kleiman)

Previously:

Discussion

Take a look at this

#1 posted by Takuan, June 15, 2009 4:18 PM

excellent, excellent... a start indeed. And one day, the gods willing, we will see the monkey and the baldie on the gallows side by side.

#2 posted by Anonymous, June 15, 2009 4:35 PM

Heading down a very slippery slope ..... How far back are we going to go, Clinton, Carter, W Sr.? Or is it just another case of rampant BDS?

#3 posted by Anonymous, June 15, 2009 5:00 PM

if you can bring a civil lawsuit against the lawyer, why can't you sue the lawyer's boss the commander in chief.

#4 posted by Blackbird, June 15, 2009 5:21 PM

Tak, your right. This certainly is a good start. However, your last point??? The gallows are way to good for those folks. I'd prefer a draw n' quarter, or tar and feather, or maybe a 30 foot drop onto sharpened sticks (or rusty nails...). Of course, that's AFTER they've endured months of what they helped inflict.

#5 posted by Takuan, June 15, 2009 5:26 PM

soil yourself for the sake of scum? Nay, satisfying as it might be, give them instead the clean death they don't deserve and spoil their plan to drag you to their level. Hang them and bury them in a dunghill to be forgotten.

#6 posted by Blackbird, June 15, 2009 5:37 PM

Ahh...your right again. It would be satisfying though. Maybe in movie form...

#7 posted by GuidoDavid, June 15, 2009 7:35 PM

No deaths, please. It will be worse for them to kept in a prison, and we will watch them grow older and wither, and remember that evil can be fought without becoming tainted oneself.

Or we cannot do that?

#8 posted by Takuan, June 15, 2009 7:42 PM

well...OK, but they only get gruel and rats to eat.

#9 posted by Griffin, June 15, 2009 7:51 PM

I'm somewhat intrigued by the fact they are only suing for a dollar.

#10 posted by Frank W, June 16, 2009 12:43 AM