Torture?  Turn to Yoo, the former Department of Justice lawyer who penned the memo enlightening our President that American torture is a-okay.  After taking the first air force transport out of Washington, he parachuted into a lawprof job (proof that the Ivory Tower may not be as pure as some might think) at the University of California, Berkeley.  He’s also called a “visiting scholar” at the American Enterprise Institute.  Hey Ted, does he have an office near yours?  Despite calls to cleanse the old Boalt Hall of Yoo, he held firm.

You might think that John Yoo would be a bit gun shy after all the drama, but no real 110% American can keep his pen sheathed when there’s a nation to defend, and so an editorial appeared yesterday in the Wall Street Journal on how our liberal activist Supreme Court has gone to war against our country in Boumediene v. Bush .

Boumediene should finally put to rest the popular myth that right-wing conservatives dominate the Supreme Court.

I know it burst my bubble.  To borrow from America’s Mayor, Richard Daley, a good judge is one who gets bought and stays bought.  I think America deserves a refund.

First out the window went precedent. Under the writ of habeas corpus, Americans (and aliens on our territory) can challenge the legality of their detentions before a federal judge. Until Boumediene, the Supreme Court had never allowed an alien who was captured fighting against the U.S. to use our courts to challenge his detention.

And so what if they weren’t actually “captured fighting” but rather rounded up afterward because somebody pointed the finger at them.  Hey, it’s not like defendants in a narcotics conspiracy are actually required to have anything to do with drugs.  Semantics don’t win wars, you know.

The Boumediene five also ignored the Constitution’s structure, which grants all war decisions to the president and Congress. In 2004 and 2006, the Court tried to extend its reach to al Qaeda terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay. It was overruled twice by Congress, which has the power to define the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Congress established its own procedures for the appeal of detentions.

While I haven’t read it in a while, I’m pretty sure that Article III limits the Supreme Court to getting together for the ceremonial group photo once a year, and otherwise making sure that the really important branches of government get to do whatever pops into their minds as a good idea.

Incredibly, these five Justices have now defied the considered judgment of the president and Congress for a third time, all to grant captured al Qaeda terrorists the exact same rights as American citizens to a day in civilian court.

It just makes you want to cry out in anguish.  Habeas Shmabeas.  Don’t these activists realize what side they’re on?

Judicial micromanagement will now intrude into the conduct of war. Federal courts will jury-rig a process whose every rule second-guesses our soldiers and intelligence agents in the field. A judge’s view on how much “proof” is needed to find that a “suspect” is a terrorist will become the standard applied on the battlefield. Soldiers will have to gather “evidence,” which will have to be safeguarded until a court hearing, take statements from “witnesses,” and probably provide some kind of Miranda-style warning upon capture. No doubt lawyers will swarm to provide representation for new prisoners.

Do they get paid extra for micromanagement?  But Yoo has completely missed the boat by suggesting that lawyers will “swarm” to provide representation.  Accused terrorists are terrible payers, and it’s almost impossible to collect.

Okay, enough sarcasm.  Yoo is nuts, plain and simple.  Rarely does one see such sycophantic rant from someone who is allowed anywhere near young people.  It was one thing when he was on the DOJ payroll, providing the administration with the rationale to do as it pleased for political ends, but either Yoo actually believes this utter crap or he’s found himself a niche and plans to milk it for all it’s worth.

Yoo concludes his diatribe with a call to elect McCain.  So what’s his angle, attorney general or Ginsburg’s seat on the Court? 

While I am in the camp that Yoo should not be tossed out on his ear as a lawprof because he holds extremist views, the fact that his argument against the Boumediene decision is so irrational and unfounded leads me to think that he should be tossed out for legal incompetence, politics notwithstanding. 

If nothing else, John Yoo should have the good sense to lay low for a while.