Legal News

The Jawboning Continues Over Yale?s Yoo Lawsuit

By Peter Lattman

After the WSJ editorial board lampooned the lawsuit filed against John Yoo (left), the Law Blog reached out for the lawyer behind the lawsuit, Jonathan Freiman (right), a Wiggin & Dana partner who heads up the National Litigation Project at the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School. We asked him to respond. He didn’t, instead choosing to go old school and write a letter to the editor, which the paper printed today.

The editorial . . . treats a valid lawsuit against a government official who authorized torture against an American citizen in an American prison as if it were a political act by a university against the war on terror. It’s not. There is a long line of cases holding government officials personally accountable for violating clearly established constitutional rights . . . .

I’m affiliated with Yale, but this is my case, brought on behalf of clients who have suffered grave harm. As others with clinical faculty appointments do, I made the choice to file suit - it was not made by Yale Law School or its dean. Work on the case is supported by foundation funding, not by university funds donated by alumni.

People can disagree on the merits of the lawsuit. Some may think the facts alleged couldn’t have happened. Others may think our Constitution allows government agents to torture. But those merits should be decided in court, on the law and the facts, not as a political issue in the papers.

The paper printed two other letters. One, by a Phoenix lawyer named Brent Moody, suggested Rule 11 sanctions against the Yale clinic. Another, by Ronaald Creamer, thanked the editorial board. “As a 1959 graduate of Yale Law School and a lifetime contributor, I am happy that you made me aware of the law suit,” he wrote. “I am delighted that Yale Law School had the temerity to pry into the solipsism of this administration and to mount one more attack against torture.”

He added: “I will therefore continue and increase my contributions to the Yale Law School as well as consider additional contributions to the ‘leftwing bucket shop,’ the National Litigation Project at the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at the Yale Law School.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 15, 2008 (boomark / email).