Yoo Withdrew: Momentum builds to hold accountable DOJ lawyers who authorized torture

Washington, DC – Amidst a growing call for a criminal investigation of the DOJ lawyers who authorized torture, John Yoo, author of the most infamous of the “torture memos” withdrew as a speaker at a conservative legal convention where human rights supporters are scheduled to take action.  

Yoo’s appearance was set for November 12.  Alliance for Justice (AFJ) is organizing human rights supporters to rally outside the convention that day and call the Attorney General to ask for immediate release of the report by the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) on the Justice Department lawyers who wrote the “torture memos.”

Yoo’s withdrawal comes after a top Bush administration Justice Department official, Daniel Levin, publicly stated last week that he was not opposed to a criminal investigation of his and his colleagues’ conduct in preparing and reviewing the “torture memos.”  Levin was the acting head of the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel in 2004-05, during which the OLC reviewed the legalities of the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation practices.” 

“John Yoo’s withdrawal from the Federalist Society Convention shows that pressure is building to hold accountable those who provided legal cover for torture,” said Nan Aron, president, Alliance for Justice.

Speaking publicly about this controversial issue for the first time, Levin said last week at a conference that featured AFJ’s film Tortured Law at American University’s Washington College of Law about professional ethics and the “torture memos:”

 “I personally am not opposed to criminal investigation of the conduct of myself and others during the period in question, because I think any government employee is appropriately subject to investigation of their conduct while they are serving in the government.”

For the first time, a senior Bush Administration official has publicly acknowledged that wrongdoing occurred in the development of Bush’s torture policies to the degree that it warrants a criminal investigation of the lawyers in the upper echelon of the Department of Justice.  Mr. Levin also said that he would support the creation of an independent commission to review the Bush torture policies. 

There has been a steady drumbeat of voices calling for accountability for those who ordered, designed, and authorized torture.

More than 10,000 people have signed petitions by Alliance for Justice and CREDO Action to Attorney General Eric Holder calling for immediate release of the OPR report. 

National Torture Accountability Day

When: Thursday, November 12, 12 noon – 1:30 pm eastern time

Where: The Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC. 

What: Action outside the Federalist Society Convention
Outside the Mayflower Hotel, Alliance for Justice (AFJ) and human rights supporters will hand out copies of the U.S. Constitution and call Attorney General Eric Holder to authorize a full investigation of the Bush administration’s descent into torture.

As part of the National Torture Accountability campaign AFJ is screening our film, Tortured Law on YouTube and on college campuses and in communities across the country. The film has been viewed by over 5,300 people on YouTube, sparking debate while encouraging Americans to call for transparency and accountability on the torture of detainees.

For more information, or to speak with Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice, contact Gaye Williams at (202) 822-6070, ext. 1367 or gaye.williams@afj.org.

Background on Bush DOJ Lawyers Yoo and Levin
John Yoo, the author of perhaps the most infamous of the “torture memos,” was confirmed to speak at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention on a panel about professional ethics issues for government national security lawyers.  The Federalist Society confirmed today that Yoo withdrew as a speaker on Friday, November 6.

John Yoo
The author of perhaps the most infamous of the “torture memos,” John Yoo served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the OLC from 2001 to 2003.  Guided by his expansive view of presidential power, Yoo reportedly had a close relationship with the Vice President’s office and was enormously influential in the “War Council,” the informal cohort of White House and senior administration officials who met monthly to develop counterterrorism policy.  In numerous OLC opinions, Yoo argued that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to “enemy combatants” caught during the war in Afghanistan and detained at Guantanamo, that the President is not bound by the War Crimes Act, that Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program was legal, and that interrogation is not torture unless it causes organ failure or death. 

Daniel Levin
Daniel Levin served as Acting Assistant Attorney General for OLC from July 2004 until February 2005, following the resignation of Jack Goldsmith.  Levin has received public praise for his 2004 memo that declared “torture is abhorrent.”  However, in August 2004, Levin sent a letter to the CIA reauthorizing the use of waterboarding, lifting the ban on waterboarding that Goldsmith had advised only months earlier.  Levin is also known to have drafted much of the lengthy May 2005 memo signed by Steven Bradbury that authorized 13 interrogation techniques considered by many to be torture.  In February 2005, Levin became a legal advisor to the National Security Council; the day before he left OLC, he stopped by Bradbury’s office and apologized for leaving it to Bradbury to sign the 2005 torture memos.  Levin is now a partner in a law firm in Washington, DC.

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