Torture Memo Author, John Yoo, Immune from Prosecution: Ninth Circuit Court of AppealsJoe Wright Jose Padilla, a United States citizen, was incarcerated for four years without trial for an alleged 2002 dirty bomb plot and has been trying to sue Donald Rumsfeld as well as other U.S. officials for his mistreatment while detained in a military brig in South Carolina. Padilla asserts that the torture treatment he received was as a direct result of the memos authored by Yoo that provided the authority needed to commence with enhanced interrogation for those labeled as enemy combatants. The ramifications of these memos have permeated throughout the military up to and including the authorization of drone bombings in Pakistan. It is not only Padilla asking for redress, but civil rights groups such as the ACLU. This led to a lawsuit by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington that was responded to by the Justice Department by releasing 900-plus pages of rather mundane e-mails, but deliberately witholding 147 documents believed to be relevant to the case. It is this backdrop which has civil libertarians concerned about what led a U.S. citizen to wind up incarcerated without trial and tortured. The 9th Circuit has made the convoluted argument that since the torture of Padilla occurred before clear rules were established in 2004 by the U.S. Supreme Court for the treatment of enemy combatants, while Yoos memos were being written, he cannot be personally held accountable. (Source) This ruling is the final nail in the coffin for any justice in the case of Jose Padilla, as it adds to his loss in January of this year in his appeal to the 4th Circuit for damages. In that case it was ruled that he was outside of the legal framework meant to deal with government conduct that tort litigation is intended to address. (Source) The real losers in this case are all American citizens, since it has been determined that under the NDAA we officially have no right to be treated with dignity in peace time or war, whether accused, falsely arrested, tortured, or found legitimately guilty. The full ramifications of the justice system abandoning its own have yet to be felt; but based on the treatment of Jose Padilla, and his lack of recourse to the rule of law, it is difficult not to agree with the conclusion of ACLU attorney, Ben Wizner, commenting on the loss in the 4th Circuit, which is now reinforced by the Ninth: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has once again sided with a bloodthirsty, well-documented, doctrine of torture. They have ruled that the secrets of the State are more important than the rights of the individual . . . even U.S. citizens. Until this point, there was some hope that America would come to its senses, but instead we head further down the slippery slope to a place where torture and even re-education and internment camps have become acceptable. Unless individual states rise up against our out-of-control Federal handlers, we will not be looked upon fondly in the annals of future world history. Read other articles by Joe Wright here. You can support this information by voting on Reddit: 