Memos from the justice department that condoned the use of torture and that outline the methods used by the CIA in secret prisons overseas are scheduled to be released today by the Obama administration, according to The Caucus, a political blog of the New York Times.
The Times writes that among the memos expected to be released is one penned by former Bush legal advisers John Yoo and Jay Bybee that is “a legal authorization for a laundry list of proposed C.I.A. interrogation techniques.”
Yoo, who is a professor at the U.C. Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law, is currently a visiting professor at the Chapman University School of Law.
It is unknown how much of the memos will be intact when they are released.
According to The Times, CIA Director Leon Panetta had pushed for weeks to have portions of the memos redacted because information contained in them could “pave the way for future disclosures of intelligence sources and methods, and would jeopardize the C.I.A.’s relationship with foreign intelligence services.”
The “most immediate concern of C.I.A. officials is that the revelations could give new momentum to a full-blown congressional investigation into covert activities under the Bush Administration,” The Times wrote.
The Spanish court was considering pursuing its own criminal investigation into six former Bush officials. The Times reported this morning, however, that Spain would not be opening an investigation of the Bush Six.
The Bush Six includes Yoo, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith; Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington; Justice Department official Jay S. Bybee; and Pentagon lawyer William Haynes.
Photo: mindgutter / Flickr
Scott Horton of The Daily Best is reporting that, according to sources close to the case, Spanish prosecutors will be going forward with a criminal investigation of six Bush administration officials, including Chapman University School of Law visiting professor John Yoo, over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Gitmo.
Horton writes:
“Baltasar Garzón Real, the investigating judge, accepted the complaint and
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Paul Haven of The Associated Press is reporting that Spanish prosecutors are likely to make a decision this week regarding whether to pursue criminal charges against six former Bush administration officials, including Chapman University School of Law visiting professor John Yoo, for enabling torture.
Haven writes:
“Under Spanish law, once the judge receives the prosecutor’s recommendation, he can either drop the case or open a full-blown probe that could lead to an
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The Chapman University School of Law dean and a professor at the Orange County, Calif., law school gave LA Times readers a preview of what the upcoming debate between former Bush administration legal adviser John Yoo and professors at the school could look like.
Published in the LA Times Opinion section Thursday, Dean John C. Eastman and professor Lawrence Rosenthal wrote separate pieces arguing whether Chapman visiting professor John Yoo, who teaches at U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, is fit to mold and Socratize young legal minds.
Mr. Rosenthal, whose piece ran above Eastman’s, stated that Mr. Yoo should not be teaching because the memos he produced for the Bush administration, including one that said the president could allow torture, were flawed in their legal reasoning.
Mr. Rosenthal writes:
“While I yield to no one in my respect for academic freedom, the memos reflect a kind of tunnel vision that I would not tolerate in a student’s work and certainly not in the work of an attorney for our government.”
Dean Eastman disagrees, stating that Mr. Yoo’s presence on the campus inspires healthy debate, and Eastman even goes so far as to disagree with those who have criticized Mr. Yoo.
Mr. Eastman writes:
“As the dean of the law school, I welcome his presence and the debate it has provoked. The opportunity to confront positions with which one disagrees is the hallmark of a first-rate education. As a constitutional law scholar, I should also note my disagreement with Yoo’s detractors.”
Read why Mr. Eastman disagrees with the critics of Mr. Yoo’s memos here.
There’s no mention of the recent developments in Spain, where prosecutors took the first steps toward a possible criminal investigation for six Bush officials.
Mr. Rosenthal is one of two professors at Chapman scheduled to debate Mr. Yoo 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 21 in the university’s Memorial Hall in a dialogue titled “Presidential Power and Success in Times of Crisis”.
If you’re planning on going, it sounds like it would be a good idea to show up early. The university, in anticipation of a large turnout, has moved the event to a larger location than originally planned and will not be including lunch.
For more information on the event, Chapman’s Web site says to contact Barbara Babcock at bbabcock@chapman.edu.
Photo: John Yoo Wikipedia page / Wikimedia Commons
Author and British barrister (lawyer) Philippe Sands told The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer: “If I were they, I would think carefully before setting foot outside the United States. They are now, and forever in the future, at risk of arrest. Until this is sorted out, they are in their own legal black hole.”
And who is part of the “they” in question?
Sands, who released a book titled “Torture Team” last year, singles out six former Bush administration officials, including John Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer and currently a visiting instructor at Chapman University’s School of Law.
When Sands book – which accuses Bush officials of complicity in acts of torture – came out, his predictions seemed far fetched, Mayer said. But Mayer writes that last week “Sand’s accusations suddenly did not seem so outlandish.” That’s because a court in Spain took the first steps toward the start of a criminal investigation of the Bush Six, the group of officials Sands cited in his book.
Here’s what happened in Spain. According to the New York Times, an official close to the case said the case was sent to the prosecutor’s office for review. According to the article, the official stated it was “highly probable” the case would go forward and that it could lead to arrest warrants for the six, though experts have said the warrants would be more symbolic than practical.
Mr. Yoo declined comment on the Times’ story, telling them he had not seen or heard of the petition. But, if you’re in the area, maybe you’ll luck out and he’ll speak on the matter when he debates Chapman Law professors 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 21 in the university’s Memorial Hall in a dialogue titled “Presidential Power and Success in Times of Crisis”.
I’m no psychic, but something tells me this is going to be a debate to watch. The university, in anticipation of a large turnout, has moved the event to a larger location than originally planned and will not be including lunch.
For more information on the event, Chapman’s Web site says to contact Barbara Babcock at bbabcock@chapman.edu.
And here’s a Q&A with John Yoo from the local newspaper, The Orange County Register.
Photo: Joe Gratz / Flickr
The picture just seems to get bleaker and bleaker for those of us who have yet to hear from the U.C. Irvine School of Law. Apparently, the first admitted students day for the new California law school was held Friday, April 3, and students on the Top Law Schools forum stated that 61 students were in attendance. Forum poster scantronix stated, however, that “a bunch” of the students were uncommitted.
Poster LawApp2012, who states that they went to the Friday reception for admitted students, said the school has admitted 109 students, 38 students have committed, 10 people have declined offers, leaving only 22 spots of the budgeted 60 slots for the school’s inaugural class. Hence, the sad, sad bunny picture. See, UC Irvine, you made the bunny sad.
LawApp2012 also stated:
“Dean Ortiz confirmed that (the school) will honor the admission offers to everyone who accepts even if it exceeds 60. Overall, the ASD was really inspiring and reaffirmed my decision to go to UCI.”
Scantronix, another user, followed up with a post stating that the committed students number 40, as a couple of students committed during the reception. Overall, scantronix says, the California’s newest law school made a strong showing.
“ASD was mostly meeting faculty and learning about the school and curriculum. It was really inspiring and I can’t stress how nice everyone was. That mattered to me a lot. It’s the most overtly social thing I’ve done in awhile. Also they fed us. OC legal community turned out in force, which was also very interesting. After ASD, I’d personally be surprised if they didn’t fill the class but as of leaving, there were 20 spots left. “
According to scantronix, the reception went about 11 hours.
Follow the conversation here.
Also checked the Facebook group U.C. Irvine School of Law Inaugural Class, and membership is at 31 students.
Photo: I Can Has Cheezburger
As if it didn’t have enough people shaking their fists and writing strongly-worded letters to them over the hiring of former Bush administration legal adviser John Yoo, Chapman University’s School of law will play host to a screening of controversial Dutch filmmaker Geert Wilders’ short film “Fitna” Saturday, April 4. To state that Wilders – who was banned from entering the United Kingdom for his points of view – is anti-Islam is putting it lightly.
“Islam is not a religion, it’s an ideology … the ideology of a retarded culture,” Wilders told The Guardian newspaper in the UK last year. He states that he intends the film to “show the real face of Islam. … I see it as a threat. I’m trying to use images to show that what’s written in the Koran is giving incentives to people all over the world.
As of the posting of this entry, I didn’t see any news on the Interwebz from the Council on American Islamic Relations, which has an office in Anaheim, regarding Geerts’ visit to the nearby campus.
Here’s the first 8 minutes and 15 seconds of the film on YouTube as a preview for tomorrow’s event. Be sure to read the lively debate in the comments section.
Geerts’ visit to the university marks the beginning of a weekend blitz of the West Coast, according to FrontPage magazine. Following his visit to Chapman, he will visit the David Horowitz Freedom Center in Sherman Oaks, Calif. to show his movie, then deliver a keynote speech in Beverly Hills. He’ll round out his tour Sunday in Los Angeles.
Saturday’s event takes place at 2 p.m. in Memorial Hall. It is co-sponsored by the Freedom Center, the Claremont Institute, the Lincoln Club of Orange County and the International Free Press Society. Students with ID are free, and public non-reserved seating is free. For reserved seating, a $50 donation to the Geert Wilders Defense Fund is requested. For more information, call 818-849-3470 or send an email to Stephanie@horowitzfreedomcenter.org.
(Read about this in an article by Ask a Mexican’s Gustavo Arellano on OC Weekly)
Photo: Wikipedia
Yes, law school and the subject matter taught in it can be less droll and more “LOL!” At least as depicted by the members of The Libel Show at the University of Virginity School of Law. The show, which is similar to the New York University School of Law’s Law Revue, is:
“an annual theatrical production which has been humoring the Law School since 1908 (making us the longest running student organization on campus). Each year the Show lampoons our professors and life at the Law School through a variety of impersonations, song parodies, and skits. The Libel Show’s mission is to do everything within its power to help the Law School community enjoy raucous laughter.” (UVA’s Web site)
Above the Law posted a couple of preview videos from NYU’s 2009 Law Revue, and The Libel Show wanted in on the publicity action. They wrote ATL with a link to a video from last year that plays a bit like an odd mix of the Beastie Boys and the Backstreet Boys. A representative for UVA states that “in terms of humor … (the video) kicks the crap out of NYU’s Law Revue”.
UVA gets extra points from me for comparing a treatise by Chemerinsky (as in Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the new U.C. Irvine School of Law) to a thick booty.
“Excuse me! You don’t know what you do to me. Your booty triggers strict scrutiny. Fatal in-fact back that everyone can see. It’s thicker than a treatise by Chemerinsky.”
But ATL hits the nail on the head when they state its tough to get over “the resemblance between that one Con Luv Boy and Carson Kressley from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”
If you haven’t already, watch the vid up top, and watch the South Park-inspired vid below from NYU to come to your own conclusions:
Whilst poking around Facebook today, I came across a closed group called the UC Irvine School of Law Founding Class, which currently lists 26 members.
I’ve written previously on UC Irvine and how folks have speculated about their admissions, and the number seems pretty close to what has been discussed. Check it out for yourself!
By the way, I hate my mailbox. And chances are about 2,400 people who applied to UC Irvine are also learning to hate their mailboxes while waiting to hear back from California’s newest public law school.
Photo: Joe Gratz / Flickr
According to a note by Dean Erwin Chemerinsky published March 9, the school received 2,500 applications from applicants vying for 60 spots in the the UC Irvine School of Law’s inaugural class. In a “Visions of Change” note, which can be found on the law school’s Web site, Chemerinsky states:
“The admissions process for the founding class continues. We have received more than 2,500 applications for the 60 slots in the first-year class. This is the best ratio of applications to slots, an obvious measure of selectivity, of any law school in the country. We have admitted a number of students, received acceptances from some, and are continuing to process a large number of applications. By every measure, the applicants are tremendously impressive and we will succeed in our goal of having an outstanding entering class of students.”
I discuss some of the glawsip regarding how many of those slots may be open here.
Chemerinsky also discusses the hiring of two new professors: Christopher Leslie, a tenured professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law who specializes in contract law and antitrust law, and Tony Reese, a chaired professor at the University of Texas Law School who specializes in intellectual property law.
Thumbnail: Okinawa Soba / Flickr
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