Well, there’s a thinker
I got an email from the American Freedom Campaign, urging me to send a helpfully pre-printed letter to the University of California, Berkeley demanding that they fire John Yoo.
Welcome to the intersection of rule of law and freedom of speech. I abhor Yoo’s theories and his memo of some repute, they are the antithesis of American jurisprudence and morality, in my humble opinion. But to demand that a man be fired for expressing his deeply, deeply flawed opinions is equally beyond the pale.
Thankfully, I somehow doubt he is getting a lot of traction among the Berkeleyites.
EDIT: Edited the title, apparently I can’t spell.
Tags: Civil Liberties, Freedom of Speech, War on Terror
7:48 am
Steve
We did not call for Yoo to be fired for “expressing” his “opinions.” We called for him to be fired for using his position as a lawyer to conspire to violate domestic law and international treaties. It has basically been acknowledged that the administration wanted to torture and Yoo set out to justify the torture with a deeply flawed memo. In a basically lawless administration, it was his responsibility to uphold the law on behalf of the American people. he not only failed, but he intentionally participate in actions that led to possible war crimes. Sure, he has not been found guilty in a court of law — yet. But this is because the administration controls the Justice Department that is responsible for prosecuting him. Berkeley needs to decide what they want a person who intentionally helped facilitate illegal torture on their faculty. To describe this as a matter of free speech misses the point entirely.
7:55 am
admin
When the email I received states Yoo “should also be prohibited from spreading his distorted view of the law and the role of lawyers to young law students” then it is a free speech issue. Absent a finding that he is actually guilty of “war crimes” then a preemptive call to fire him implicates freedom of thought; are law professors who agree with him to be fired as well?