On August 17th, Donna Norton, Susan Baritell, and Terra Freedman joined demonstrators at Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley School of Law, calling for legal accountability for John Yoo. Donna and 3 others were arrested (basically for chanting loudly!).
While temporarily acting as Legal Counsel for the Justice Dept, John Yoo authored documents providing “legal” authorization and cover for the Bush-Cheney administration’s wire-taping and torture programs. It’s one thing to promote a President-Is-King (Unitary Executive) theory in the classroom and in articles, but quite another to use your position in the Justice Dept to make your personal ideology the law of the land.
Congress, the Justice Department, and the University have failed to investigate both the ethical and criminal violations of Yoo’s actions.
SERIOUS LAWS HAVE BEEN BROKEN WITH SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES NOT ONLY FOR THIS NATION, BUT FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD. JOHN YOO SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE ROLE HE PLAYED.
Let Christopher Edley, Dean of UC Berkeley School of Law, know that the demonstrators are not the criminals. Prosecuting citizens who speak up for upholding the law, while placing those who hold power above the law, is a perversion of justice. Given the severe budget crisis facing the State of CA, surely the resources of the District Attorney’s Office could be put to far better use than pursuing a criminal case against these 4 protesters for speaking out loudly for restoration of a credible justice system.
Please send emails and letters of support for the 4 demonstrators (and their cause) and urge Dean Edley to drop the charges.
emails:
edley@law.berkeley.edu
letters:
Christopher Edley, Jr.
UC Berkeley School of Law
215 Boalt Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
Please take action now and please forward as appropriate. We need to get our letters and e-mails in by September 15 for major impact.
