Dueche Bag of the Year

Do you recognize this man? If you are a serious political nerd, a student of Berkeley's law school, or a newshound you might. This is John Yoo, a key lawyer and architect of the Bush's doctrine on torture (2001-3). This man, evidently, thought the president may have the constitutional right to torture enemy combatants, and he could hold the indefinitely. In a 2002 memo, he noted that prisoners could be beaten and it not be considered torture as long as the pain cause did not equal "organ failure, bodily impairment, or death."

He was even a key player in the arrest and detainment of an American citizen aboard a Navy brig with no lawyer and no rights because he was accused of hatching a terrorist plot. Which, perhaps he did, but the constitution is pretty explicit in the Bill of Rights section on the rights of all American citizens regardless of their crimes. Evidently, conservative lawyers (like Scalia) who sit around and preach against judicial activism are just as guilty as their liberal brethren. The irony, I suppose, is that the liberal justices are always trying to protect and uphold those pesky human rights while conservatives are all about killing people, torturing them, and taking the rights of minorities away. Yea!

Well, it turns out that Juan Padilla, the guy held on the Navy ship, won a court case that makes it legal to sue Mr. Yoo. The beauty of the lawsuit? Padilla, who is in jail for 17 years, is seeking $1 in damages plus legal fees. Awesome. Mr. Yoo, you should be ashamed of yourself and you should be disbarred for being a stupid schmuck.