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Office of Legal Counsel

Spanish Judge Resumes Torture Case Against Six Senior Bush Lawyers

Andy Worthington | Posted 11.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Douglas Feith, Philippe Sands, World, War on Terror, Terrorism, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, CIA Torture, Spain, Bush Prosecutions, David Addington, John Yoo, Justice Department, Eric Holder, World News, Office of Legal Counsel, Politics News, Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, Bush Administration Torture, Jay Bybee, Sami El-Leithi, Jamil El-Banna, Omar Deghayes, Guantanamo Bay, Breaking Politics News, William J. Haynes II, Alberto Gonzales, Torture Memos, Torture, Politics News
Andy Worthington

Judge Baltasar Garzón is pressing ahead with a case against six senior Bush administration lawyers for implementing torture at Guantánamo.

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Calling Out the Torture Enablers at St. Thomas Law School

Coleen Rowley | Posted 09.26.2009 | Politics

Read More: Office of Legal Counsel, Olc, OLC "Torture" Memos, Torture and Academic Freedom, St. Thomas School of Law, University of St. Thomas, Golden Shield, Dean Thomas Mengler, Robert Delahunty, Michael Stokes Paulsen, John Yoo Torture, Politics News
Coleen Rowley

As details emerged on Monday of CIA interrogators' abuse of prisoners involving mock executions, Law Professor Robert Delahunty quietly resumed teaching fall classes in Minneapolis.

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Tortured Logic

Anthony D. Romero | Posted 09.06.2009 | Politics

Read More: Office of Legal Counsel, Jay Bybee, Government Accountability, John Yoo, Aclu, Steven Bradbury, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Torture Memos, Torture, Politics News
Anthony D. Romero

2009-08-06-aclupull.jpgIn "Tortured Logic," a video released by the ACLU today, you'll hear well-known people like Oliver Stone, Rosie Perez and Philip Glass, read from those chilling Justice Department torture memos.

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Release of the "Holy Grail" of Torture Reports Delayed Again

Andy Worthington | Posted 08.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: Aclu, Sere, Cia Inspector General Report, ACLU Accountability for Torture, War on Terror, Harsh Interrogations, Terrorism, President Obama, Abu Zubaydah, Fbi, CIA Torture, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Office of Legal Counsel, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Cia, Steven G. Bradbury, Breaking Politics News, Waterboarding, ACLU Torture, The Guantanamo Files, Cia Torture Memos, CIA Inspector General, Torture Memos, Torture, Politics News
Andy Worthington

Today was supposed to be the day that the Justice Department -- after two delays -- released an unclassified version of the CIA Inspector General's 2004 Report into the interrogations of "high-value detainees."

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E-Mails Show How Cheney Forced DOJ Lawyers To Approve Torture

The Washington Post | Posted 07.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Office of Legal Counsel, Dick Cheney DOJ, Dick Cheney, James Comey, Department of Justice, White House Office of Legal Counsel, Alberto Gonzales, Bush Office of Legal Counsel, Politics News

Three newly-disclosed Justice Department e-mails thoroughly vindicate the most cynical suspicions about how former vice president Dick Cheney bent ost...

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Dawn Johnsen: Reid Says Another Obama Nominee May Be Blocked By GOP

Political Animal | Posted 06.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, Arlen Specter, Harry Reid, Confirmation, Senate Confirmation, Dawn Johnsen, Senate Majority Leader, Politics News

As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) moves to ease a backlog of executive branch nominations, he suggested on Tuesday that he does not have t...

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Jay Bybee Stands By Bush Torture Memos: No Regrets

New York Times | NEIL A. LEWIS | Posted 05.30.2009 | Politics

Read More: Bybee Bush Torture, Bush Torture Memos, Jay Bybee, Jay Bybee Regrets, Judge Bybee, Bybee Torture Memos, Office of Legal Counsel, Bybee Impeachment, Politics News

Judge Jay S. Bybee broke his silence on Tuesday and defended the conclusions of legal memorandums he had signed as a Bush administration lawyer that a...

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Who Authorized The Torture of Abu Zubaydah?

Andy Worthington | Posted 05.25.2009 | World

Read More: Thailand, George W. Bush, Abu Zubaydah, Guantanamo, Donald Rumsfeld, Fbi, Steven Bradbury, Dick Cheney, Office of Legal Counsel, Politics, Jay Bybee, Sere, Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, R. Scott Shumate, Sleep Deprivation, Cia Music Torture, Colin Powell, Music Torture, Afghanistan, Terrorism, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Senate Armed Services Committee, CIA Torture, David Addington, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Jane Mayer, George Tenet, American Torture, Ron Suskind, James Risen, Breaking Politics News, New York Times, Waterboarding, William J. Haynes II, International Committee of the Red Cross, Torture Memos, Torture, World News
Andy Worthington

For the defendants of the use of torture by U.S. forces -- still led by former Vice President Dick Cheney -- this has been a rocky few weeks.

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The Tortured Logic of the Torture Superfans

Bob Cesca | Posted 05.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Office of Legal Counsel, Bush Administration, Bush Administration Torture, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, CIA Torture, Waterboarding, Fox and Friends, Torture, Brian Kilmeade, Politics News
Bob Cesca

If we can't protect ourselves with our morals intact, we don't deserve to be protected in the first place.

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Correcting the Record on Dawn Johnsen's Record

Neil Kinkopf | Posted 05.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Office of Legal Counsel, Obama Office of Legal Counsel, Warrantless Surveillance, Johnsen, Mirengoff, Guantanamo, Dawn Johnsen, Gitmo, Politics News
Neil Kinkopf

Dawn Johnsen is an outstanding choice to lead the Office of Legal Counsel. It is not surprising that her critics have resorted to basing their arguments on fiction.

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Impeach Bybee: The Growing Movement to Unseat Bush Torture Lawyer Turned Federal Judge

Jeremy Scahill | Posted 05.21.2009 | Politics

Read More: Russ Feingold, Bruce Ackerman, Jerrold Nadler, President Obama, Donald Rumsfeld, Guantanamo, CIA Torture, Habeus Corpus, Democratic Party, Steven Bradbury, Barack Obama, Office of Legal Counsel, Judge Jay Bybee, Center for Constitutional Rights, Jay Bybee, Jan Schakowsky, Bob Fertik, Michael Ratner, New York Times, David Swanson, Alberto Gonzales, President George W. Bush, Torture Memos, Politics News
Jeremy Scahill

The UN has indicated that Obama's refusal to prosecute torturers may be a violation of International law.

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Bush Memos Suggest Abuse Isn't Torture If a Doctor Is There

Sheri Fink | Posted 05.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: Office of Legal Counsel, Doctors, Detainees, War on Terror, Cia, Medicine, Psychologists, CIA Interrogations, Interrogation, Nuremberg Code, Waterboarding, Torture Memos, Politics News
Sheri Fink

Perhaps the most chilling aspect of the memos is their intimation that medical professionals conducted a form of research on the detainees, clearly without their consent.

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Will Obama Block Release of Key Bush-era Torture Memos?

Jeremy Scahill | Posted 05.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Aclu, White House, Bradbury Memos, George W. Bush, President Obama, Obama State Secrets, State Secrets, John Brennan, CIA Torture, Steven Bradbury, Eric Holder, Office of Legal Counsel, Obama White House, Jay Bybee, Bagram, Eric Holder Attorney General, Glenn Greenwald, Financial Crisis, ACLU Torture, Leon Panetta, C.I.A., Leon Panetta CIA, Extraordinary Rendition, Politics News
Jeremy Scahill

As has been pointed out by journalists, human rights lawyers and critics, President Obama has continued -- and continues to defend -- some of the Bush administration's most repressive "War on Terror" policies.

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A Fight That Matters

Kathleen Turner | Posted 05.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Office of Legal Counsel, Obama Administration, Gop, Doj, Celebrities Talk Politics, Dawn Johnsen, Republicans, Politics News
Kathleen Turner

If Republicans are able to prevent Dawn Johnsen from taking office, they'll have demonstrated an ability to block any nomination for the most craven, partisan reasons.

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Republicans Go All Alice-in-Wonderland Over Dawn Johnsen Justice Nomination

David Latt | Posted 05.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Office of Legal Counsel, John Woo, Senate Confirmation Hearings, Dawn Johnsen, Justice Department, Politics News
David Latt

So Senator Cornyn's attack is based on...what? Because Johnsen repudiated the Bush administration's legal opinions, that proves she lacks "requisite seriousness."

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Jason Linkins

Scritti Politti: March 2, 2009

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 04.02.2009 | Politics

Read More: Joe the Plumber, Joe Scarborough, Bobby Jindal, Justice Department Memoes, Cpac, Volcano Monitoring, Office of Legal Counsel, Nra, Politics News

Poor Samuel J. "Joe the 'Plumber'" Wurzelbacher! In town to deliver some plumbing lectures at CPAC, he also made a brief appearance at an area Borders...

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Obama Hires Another Lawyer Who Battled Bush's Secrecy

The Plum Line | Posted 02.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Aclu, Office of Legal Counsel, George Bush, National Security Affairs, Bush Administration, Patrick Leahy, Martin Lederman, Senator Patrick Leahy, George W. Bush, David Barron, National Security Council, Dawn Johnsen, Mary De Rosa, Politics News

To my mind, one of the more interesting storylines unfolding right now is President Obama's ongoing appointment to the Office of Legal Counsel of lawy...

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100 Days: Obama's Office of Legal Counsel Staffed With Prominent Opponents Of Torture

Washington Monthly | Steve Benen | Posted 02.21.2009 | Politics

Read More: Olc, Obama's Lawyers, Dawn Johnsen, Marty Lederman, Office of Legal Counsel, Obama's Legal Counsel, 100 Days, Politics News

It's encouraging, then, to know who'll be sitting in John Yoo's office for the foreseeable future. A Georgetown source forwards over an email fro...

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Obama Team Faces Major Task In Justice Dept Overhaul

Washington Post | Carrie Johnson | Posted 12.13.2008 | Politics

Read More: Office of Legal Counsel, Olc, President Obama Overhaul, Justice Dept Overhaul, Obama Transition, Obama Justice Department, DOJ Overhaul, Politics News

As a transition team for the Obama administration begins work on a Justice Department overhaul, the key question is where to begin. Political consid...

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Friday Talking Points [48] -- Throwing Out The Rulebook

Chris Weigant | Posted 10.20.2008 | Politics

Read More: Gaffe, Bugliosi, Markets, Don Siegleman, Bail Out, Feinstein, Mark Pryor, Steve Bradbury, Fisa, Mccain, Campaign, Mary Landrieu, Difi, Sarah Palin, Offshore Drilling, Nation of Whiners, Bailout, 2008, National Security, Constitutional Rights, Midotw, Paris Hilton Energy Plan, Drilling, Gang of 10, Most Impressive Democrat of the Week, Kent Conrad, Torture Memo, Rove, Energy, Gang of Ten, Executive, Democrat, Basketball, Feingold, Joe Biden, 08, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Biden, Election, 08 Election, Elections, Blue Ribbon Commission, Mddotw, Wiretapping, Charles Manson, Crisis, Financial, Dnc, Spain, Warrantless, Russ Feingold, Gramm, Ben Nelson, Gang of 20, Vincent Bugliosi, Economy, Meltdown, John Yoo, Middle Class, Vermont, Regulation, Democratic, Obama, Dianne Feinstein, Media, Fourth Amendment, Republican, Bush, Savings and Loan, Siegelman, Office of Legal Counsel, Playbook, Phil Gramm, Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week, 2008 Campaign, Progressive Party, Yoo, Ken Salazar, Fat Cats, Gang of Twenty, Mental Recession, Keating Five, John McCain, Karl Rove, Rules, Msm, Attorney General, Count the Lies, 2008 Elections, Contempt, 2008 Election, Tom Carper, Oil Companies, Senior Moment, Murder, Charlotte Dennett, Blanche Lincoln, Tim Johnson, Progressive, 08 Campaign, Wall Street, Rulebook, Palin, 2008 Presidential Race, Oil, Deregulation, Torture, Prosecute, Manson, Dennett, Olc, Politics News
Chris Weigant

Back in Volume 36 of this Friday Talking Points column, I pointed out what seemed to me to be an obvious observation -- that the media was going a lot...

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Sen. Whitehouse Reveals Secret Justice Dept. Memos: Bush Determines What Is Constitutional

Think Progress | Posted 03.28.2008 | Politics

Read More: Office of Legal Counsel, White House, Sheldon Whitehouse, Executive Order, Executive Authority, George W. Bush, Alberto Gonzales, Constitution, Justice Department, Legal Memos, Executive Power, Politics News

This morning, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) delivered an impassioned floor speech to help frame the debate over FISA reform. Using his privilege as a...

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