John Yoo

John Yoo Hails High Court Miranda Ruling

The Wall Street Journal, June 8, 2010 by John Yoo
bit.ly/afF6kO (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

It may well be the Supreme Court that rides to Mr. Obama’s rescue. Even as it rejects the administration’s symbolic terrorism legislation, the court’s new flexibility may lead to its own Miranda modifications to ease the burdens on our military, intelligence and police. That would give the administration more flexibility to fight terrorism within the criminal-justice paradigm, though at the expense of weakening the civil liberties of all Americans.

John Yoo Disapproves of Elena Kagan’s Legal Scholarship

-The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 16, 2010 by John Yoo
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/93870464.html#axzz0oJ35OAdW

There is a lot to like about Kagan: She is qualified, smart, engaging, and can lead a large, fractious place like a law school. But her gay-rights stance shows her adopting the lazy conventional liberalism of the faculty lounge over the common sense of real people (allegedly prized by this administration) and innovative or inspired thinking—hence the thinness of her published scholarship.

-The New York Times, May 25, 2010 by John Yoo
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/opinion/26yoo.html?scp=3&sq=Berkeley&st=nyt

From the time of George Washington, presidents have understood Article II to grant them the authority to hire and fire all subordinate officers of the United States, and hence command their activities, even though the Constitution mentions only the power to appoint, not to remove. If Elena Kagan will not even permit presidents this small constitutional right, who can doubt that she will reject executive powers of greater consequence?

John Yoo Argues for Filibuster of Obama Supreme Court Nominee

The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 2, 2010 by John Yoo
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/92606454.html

Republicans can use the confirmation process to draw even sharper contrasts on the issues that have sparked popular opposition to Obama. They will have to accept a nominee who supports abortion and racial preferences; they will get no one else from this administration. But they can draw the line at judges who support the massive expansion of the welfare state at home while restricting the government’s power to safeguard the nation from its foreign enemies.

John Yoo Calls for SCOTUS Nominee Who Supports Judicial Restraint

The Wall Street Journal, April 17, 2010 by John Yoo
http://bit.ly/9acSTu (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

To satisfy his base, President Obama will have to nominate a justice who is pro-choice, favors racial preferences and likes broad government regulation of the economy. But he also has the flexibility to choose a justice who believes in a return to a restrained judicial role in war and national security. Senate Republicans should support the president’s nominee if he does.

Christopher Edley and John Yoo Commend Goodwin Liu’s Nomination

Los Angeles Times, March 9, 2010 by Carol J. Williams
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-goodwin-liu9-2010mar09,0,1301596.story

“Given the electrically charged climate in Washington, any nominee can become a lightning rod,” said Christopher Edley Jr., dean of Berkeley’s law school. “On the merits, he should be noncontroversial. But the reality will be a roll of the dice.”

Yoo said of Liu’s nomination to the 9th Circuit that “he’s not someone a Republican president would pick, but for a Democratic nominee, he’s a very good choice.”

John Yoo Criticizes Political Attacks on Obama’s DOJ Appointees

-San Francisco Chronicle, March 5, 2010 by Debra J. Sanders
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/05/EDQ91CAT1C.DTL&type=printable

As former Bush attorney and current UC Berkeley law Professor John Yoo noted, “The president can and should put into place political appointees who agree with him. The Obama administration has placed detainee lawyers in important positions in the government because, clearly, the president agrees with the ACLU perspective on the war on terrorism.”

-The New York Times, March 9, 2010 by John Schwartz
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/us/politics/10lawyers.html

“What’s the big whoop?” he asked. “The Constitution makes the president the chief law enforcement officer. We had an election. President Obama has softer policies on terror than his predecessor.” He said, “He can and should put people into office who share his views.” Once the American people know who the policy makers are, he said, “they can decide whether they agree with him or not.”

John Yoo Answers Questions about National Security and Executive Power

The Washington Post Live Q&As, March 3, 2010 by John Yoo
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2010/03/03/DI2010030301148.html

I think men such as Washington, Lincoln or FDR broadly exercised their executive power because they genuinely saw terrible threats to American national security. They often did so knowing that their actions would be controversial and that they would provoke severe political reactions against them. They went forward anyway, giving presidential power, I argue in my book, a somewhat tragic quality.