John Yoo to Visit Charleston
[Casen Gregg]
I am currently the President of The Charleston School of Law’s chapter of the Federalist Society, and along with Charleston’s lawyers chapter, we are hosting the highly controversial John Yoo for a speaking engagement, book signing, and luncheon on Monday, September 24th at noon. If any of you will be in the area on that date, we would love to have you in the audience for the event. If you are interested, RSVP to fed-soc@charlestonlaw.org. Admission is free and seating is limited, so hurry and RSVP if interested.
John Yoo is a current professor at the University of California-Berkley, an author, and former clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court. Most notably however, is his role as a former member of the U.S. Department of Justice’s legal counsel. While with The Department of Justice, he co-authored The Patriot Act, wrote the infamous “Torture Memos,” where he practically gave President Bush the “go-ahead” on torturing enemy combatants, and he became a strong advocate of the Unitary Executive Theory, which among other things, claims military force, like veto and pardon power, is a right that is unique to the President and is unreviewable by other branches. Yoo has also been charged with war crimes in connection with the treatment of international detainees.
Let me be clear. I am against The Patriot Act and for the most part, I reject the Unitary Executive Theory as dangerous to separation of powers. Despite this, I am very excited to hear a great legal mind and key figure in The War on Terror justify his positions and share with us some of his experiences.