attorney who helped justify torture

What did the DOD use the torture memo to justify?

In 2008, leaders of the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees concluded that the memo was used by the DoD to "justify harsh interrogation practices on terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay " and the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse.

What did John Bybee do for torture?

Bybee signed the legal memorandum that defined "enhanced interrogation techniques" (including waterboarding), which are now regarded as torture by the Justice Department, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, medical experts, intelligence officials, military judges, and American allies.

Is torture legal in the US?

The federal prohibition on torture, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-2340A, is constitutional, and I believe it does apply as a general matter to the subject of detention and interrogation of detainees conducted pursuant to the President's Commander in Chief authority.

What did Jack Goldsmith say about the Torture Memos?

Jack Goldsmith, who succeeded Bybee as head of the Office of Legal Counsel, withdrew the torture memos weeks before resigning in June 2004. He later said he was "astonished" by the "deeply flawed" and "sloppily reasoned" legal analysis in the memos.

Who authored the torture memo?

A set of legal memoranda known as the "Torture Memos" were drafted by John Yoo as Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States and signed in August 2002 by Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee, head of the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice.

Where is John Yoo?

Yoo has been a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law since 1993, where he is Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law.

Is John Yoo a Democrat or Republican?

Republican PartyJohn Yoo / PartyThe Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with its main historic rival, the Democratic Party. Wikipedia

Does the US have a unitary executive?

The unitary executive theory is a theory of United States constitutional law which holds that the President of the United States possesses the power to control the entire federal executive branch.

The Bush administration's Torture 13. They authorized it, they decided how to implement it, and they crafted the legal fig leaf to justify it

On April 16, the Obama administration released four memos that were used to authorize torture in interrogations during the Bush administration.

Marcy Wheeler

Marcy Wheeler writes at EmptyWheel.net and is the author of "Anatomy of Deceit."

Who signed the torture memo?

A set of legal memoranda known as the " Torture Memos " were drafted by John Yoo as Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States and signed in August 2002 by Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee, head of the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice.

What is the convention against torture?

The memo discusses the Convention Against Torture (which the memo calls the "Torture Convention") and concludes that the convention makes a distinction between torture and "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment", and that therefore torture is "only the most extreme acts", which the memo concludes, together with the ratifying reservations of the United States, confirms the interpretation of torture found in part one. It concludes that torture does not include "other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" because such language is found in a different article than the definition of torture, and because it appears that the convention does not intend to criminalize such action, but instead discourage it. The memo examines the ratification history, and cites U.S. case law stating that the executive branch's interpretation of the treaty "is to be accorded the greatest weight in ascertaining a treaty's intent and meaning". It finds in the congressional record that the Reagan administration understood torture to be "at the extreme end of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment", and that such treatment or punishment, which is not torture, to be "the cruel, unusual, and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth and/or Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States".

What is the primary torture memo?

section 2340 and the interrogation of al Qaeda operatives. This is the primary "torture memo", which defines the Department of Justice's (DOJ) interpretation of torture.

What are torture memos?

The term "torture memos" was originally used to refer to three documents prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel at the United States Department of Justice and signed in August 2002: "Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. sections 2340–2340A" and "Interrogation of al Qaeda" (both drafted by Jay Bybee ), ...

Why was John Yoo criticized?

John Yoo was later harshly criticized by the Department of Justice for failing to cite legal precedent and existing case law when drafting his memos. In particular, the 2009 DOJ report chastises Yoo for failing to cite Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, a seminal case on the powers of the Executive in times of war.

When did the CIA request new legal opinions?

In May 2005, the CIA requested new legal opinions about the interrogation techniques it was using. The OLC issued three memos that month, signed by Steven G. Bradbury, ruling on the legality of the authorized techniques if agents followed certain constraints.

What is part 4 of the 'Torture'?

Part IV. Part four examines international case law regarding torture, and concludes that while there are many methods that might be cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, "they do not produce pain or suffering of the necessary intensity to meet the definition of torture.".

Who is Christopher Goffard?

Christopher Goffard is an author and a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. He shared in the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for the paper’s Bell coverage and has twice been a Pulitzer finalist for feature writing, in 2007 and 2014. His novel “Snitch Jacket” was a finalist for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel.

When did Shegerian Nayeri graduate from Whittier Law?

Shegerian graduated from Whittier Law in May 2013, about the same time she started cooperating seriously with the police. She was admitted to the bar in May 2014. Nayeri was captured in November 2013. The couple met when Shegerian was a teenager and eventually settled in Irvine.

Who is Hossein Nayeri's ex wife?

Recently recaptured Orange County prison escapee Hossein Nayeri appears in court in Santa Ana, Calif., on Tuesday. His ex-wife, Cortney Shegerian, who is an employment rights lawyer, may have had a role in some alleged crimes, police say.

Who is Maura Dolan?

Maura Dolan is the California-based legal affairs writer for the Los Angeles Times. She covers the California Supreme Court and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. A California native, she graduated from UC Berkeley and has worked in Washington and Los Angeles for The Times. She is now based in San Francisco.

Did the fact that she helped police and may have been abused by her former husband help her?

The fact that she helped police and may have been abused by her former husband would have been considered mitigation, he said. Being candid about her history also would have helped her, he said. But she still would have had to prove she had been rehabilitated, he said.

Did Patrick Dixon recall the case?

He said he did not recall the case and does not believe he was ever involved in deciding her admission.

Is Cortney Shegerian interviewing Gayle Murphy?

A judge later overturned the verdict, and the case is on appeal.) Cortney Shegerian has declined to be interviewed. Gayle Murphy, who has run the bar’s admission office for about 10 years, refused to discuss Shegerian’s admission.

Who was the American who tortured prisoners in Iraq?

Another American who has prospered despite links to torture is Christopher Brinson. As a U.S. Army Reserve Captain, Brinson supervised reservists Charles Graner Jr. and Lynddie England, among others, as they tortured prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in 2003-2004.

Who was the King of Torture?

Others involved in torture didn't escape unscathed. Interviewed by the Witness to Guantanamo Project, Damien Corsetti was known as the "King of Torture.". Although a military jury later cleared him of all charges, Corsetti remains haunted what he witnessed.

What did Corsetti describe about torture?

In an interview with a Spanish newspaper, Corsetti described how witnessing torture was worse than combat. The cries, the smells, the sounds, they are with me all the time. It is something I can't take in. The cries of the prisoners calling for their relatives, their mother.

What case did John Yoo rule that an inmate did not have a constitutional right to present evidence of?

In 2013, he ruled in Chappell v. Mandeville that an American inmate did not have a constitutional right to present evidence of the alleged torture he suffered while confined. John Yoo retains a chaired professorship at the University of California's law school.

What did the Bush administration do after 9/11?

After the attacks on September 11, the Bush Administration chose, in the words of then-vice president Dick Cheney, to go to the "dark side" to fight terrorism. That meant rounding up thousands of suspects and subjecting many of them to torture and execution.

Why did General Graner tell the army investigators that he was being reprimanded?

In return for immunity, Graner told army investigators that Brinson instructed him to obey military intelligence officer orders to "soften up" prisoners via torture. While a number of enlisted soldiers, including Graner and England, served time, Brinson was only reprimanded for overseeing torture.

When did Obama stop the torture program?

President Barack Obama formally stopped the torture program with his first executive order in 2009. But few have paid any price for the serious human rights crimes they are alleged to have committed.