Probably Berkeley's Biggest Free Speech Effort Yet

Scholar Stands by Post-9/11 Writings On Torture, Domestic Eavesdropping
Former Justice Official Says He Was Interpreting Law, Not Making Policy

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 26, 2005


John Yoo knows the epithets of the libertarians, the liberals and the lefties. Widely considered the intellectual architect of the most dramatic assertion of White House power since the Nixon era, he has seen constitutional scholars skewer his reasoning and students call for his ouster from the University of California at Berkeley.

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"I'm one of the few people who is willing to defend decisions I made in government."

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Framing the battle against terrorism as a wartime emergency, Yoo redefined torture, reinterpreted the Constitution and classified as archaic the long-established humanitarian rules of the battlefield.

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"He was the right person in the right place at the right time," said Georgetown University's David Cole, a constitutional scholar and administration critic. "Here was someone who had made his career developing arguments for unchecked power, who could cut-and-paste from his law review articles into memos that essentially told the president, 'You can do what you want.' "

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The majority view among constitutional scholars holds that the Framers purposely imposed checks on the executive branch, even in wartime, not least in reaction to the rule of Britain's King George III.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/25/AR2005122500570.html
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It is interesting that the faculty at Berkeley gave him tenure. That's true dedication to the principles of free speech and academic freedom. It will be interesting to see if liberal candidates opt not to apply there.

the regents positions are and have been antithetical to progressive issues and concerns.

that the regents were like that--didn't Gray Davis make any Demo appointments that are still there?