Judge awards $2.5 million to attorneys in Yoo case

[kpete]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Judge awards $2.5 million to attorneys in Yoo case

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle December 25, 2010 04:00 AM Copyright San Francisco Chronicle.

John Yoo's November 2001 legal justification for a secret wiretapping program was a hit with George W. Bush's White House but got bad reviews from other quarters, including Yoo's successors in the Justice Department and the department's inspector general.

Add another critic to the list: Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco, who awarded more than $40,000 in damages and $2.5 million in attorneys' fees this week to a target of Bush-era wiretapping.

"Wholly apart from the apparent weakness of Yoo's legal analysis, it is disquieting that for more than a year and a half, sole responsibility for determining the legality of the (program) was reposed in a single official," Walker wrote.

He said that because Bush administration officials had relied on Yoo's flawed advice in authorizing surveillance, the White House did not deliberately violate the rights of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation during more than seven months of warrantless wiretapping in 2004.








Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2010%2F12%2F24%2FMNV01GV67T.DTL

[xchrom]

1. Good. Nt

[Angry Dragon]

2. Who is going to pay this fine??

[JDPriestly]

11. Taxpayers.

That is the price the American taxpayers pay for permitting a person like George W. Bush to occupy the White House. Everything, you know, has a price and a consequence.

[Angry Dragon]

13. Then we should have the right to file suits against

the people that allowed this
A class action suit is called for

[aquart]

3. Sorry. Not seeking another opinion was deliberate negligence.

They relied on Yoo's advice ONLY because it was tailored to their requirements. This decision is pasture pastry.

[elleng]

4. Don't think 'neglect' is deliberate; sabotage is, however!!!

There's also non-feasance, mal-feasance, and mis-feasance.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Correct. They put it on the shoulders of one person.

Plausible deniability. Just the same way that Reagan and Bush got away with the Iran-Contra thing.

[No Elephants]

15. +1 Bush "relied" on Yoo's opinion ONLY bc Bush wanted to, not bc reliance was in good faith.

Walker's own words show that:

""Wholly apart from the apparent weakness of Yoo's legal analysis, it is disquieting that for more than a year and a half, sole responsibility for determining the legality of the (program) was reposed in a single official," Walker wrote."


Yoo's legal analysis was too weak for good faith reliance by Bush's other legal advisors, like Gonzo.

Walker is conveniently scapegoating Yoo while letting Bushco off the hook.

[DavidDvorkin]

6. So the injured party gets $40,000, but the lawyers get $2.5 million?

Jeez.

[Motown_Johnny]

7. and here in lies the arguments for torte reform

one side : look at that! 2.5 million for a 40,000 dollar settlement, that should never happen!


the other side: if we didn't allow cases like this then you can just run up the costs to have your case dismissed effectively buying yourself out of the process




etc. etc. etc. endlessly

[UTUSN]

8. K&R #8, may it trickle up and up n/t

[sabrina 1]

9. Good, but it wasn't 'flawed', I am sick of this kind of language

making it seem they were just innocent, but a bit mixed up about things like torture and spying on the American people. It was a pre-meditated crime and a very, very deliberate attempt to get around our laws.

As for Bush et al relying on his advice, this is ridiculous, he did what they wanted him to do, probably instructed him to do.

This is why we need open trials for these criminals. So that they all end up trying to save their own skin, and rat each other out.

But this current administration is protecting them, not just from our own judicial system, but from any system in the world. Shame on them. Because the crimes they are covering for will go down in history as they are of enormous magnitude.

However, this is a small signal that not everyone is going to protect them completely.

[freshwest]

12. Yes, our language has been twisted so much, it's losing meaning.

[Solly Mack]

10. k/r

[underpants]

14. Read "The Dark Side" by Jane Mayer

Yoo was there "doctor to write them prescriptions" (they had already taken the drug). Flannigan and Allbritton were the other people who should be in jail.