‘Beyond Debate’
NYT editorial
Jose Padilla, the American citizen detained as an enemy combatant after he was arrested by the Bush administration in May 2002, was denied contact with his lawyer, his family or anyone else outside the military brig for almost two years and kept in detention for almost four. His jailers made death threats, shackled him for hours, forced him into painful stress positions, subjected him to noxious fumes that hurt his eyes and nose and deafening noises at all hours, denied him care for serious illness and more.
This treatment was indisputably cruel, inhumane and shocking, in breach of the minimum standard required for anyone in American custody, especially a citizen. Some of it was torture, though Mr. Padilla should not have had to prove that to show his treatment was unconstitutional.
Seeking money damages of $1 — to make a point about accountability — Mr. Padilla sued John Yoo, the draftsman of legal policies for the Bush war on terrorism. Mr. Padilla said Mr. Yoo violated the Constitution by helping to shape policies that led to the unlawful detention and interrogation of Mr. Padilla and then writing legal papers to justify that approach.
In 2009, a Federal District Court in California ruled that Mr. Yoo was not immune from the lawsuit: the violations of rights Mr. Padilla alleged were “clearly established at the time of the conduct” and any “reasonable” federal official would have understood that.
(More here.)
Jose Padilla, the American citizen detained as an enemy combatant after he was arrested by the Bush administration in May 2002, was denied contact with his lawyer, his family or anyone else outside the military brig for almost two years and kept in detention for almost four. His jailers made death threats, shackled him for hours, forced him into painful stress positions, subjected him to noxious fumes that hurt his eyes and nose and deafening noises at all hours, denied him care for serious illness and more.
This treatment was indisputably cruel, inhumane and shocking, in breach of the minimum standard required for anyone in American custody, especially a citizen. Some of it was torture, though Mr. Padilla should not have had to prove that to show his treatment was unconstitutional.
Seeking money damages of $1 — to make a point about accountability — Mr. Padilla sued John Yoo, the draftsman of legal policies for the Bush war on terrorism. Mr. Padilla said Mr. Yoo violated the Constitution by helping to shape policies that led to the unlawful detention and interrogation of Mr. Padilla and then writing legal papers to justify that approach.
In 2009, a Federal District Court in California ruled that Mr. Yoo was not immune from the lawsuit: the violations of rights Mr. Padilla alleged were “clearly established at the time of the conduct” and any “reasonable” federal official would have understood that.
(More here.)
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