American attorney and former government official (born 1967)
This article is about the American legal scholar. For the Chinese Australian pediatrician, see John Yu.
John Yoo
유준
Yoo in 2012
Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel
In office July 2001 – May 2003
Appointed by
Jay S. Bybee
President
George W. Bush
Member of the National Board for Education Sciences
Incumbent
Assumed office December 2020
President
Donald Trump Joe Biden
General Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee
In office July 1995 – July 1996
Personal details
Born
Yoo Choon
(1967-07-10) July 10, 1967 (age 56) Seoul, South Korea
Political party
Republican
Spouse
Elsa Arnett
Education
Harvard University (BA) Yale University (JD)
Occupation
Law professor
Known for
"Torture Memos" (2002)
Awards
Federalist Society Paul M. Bator Award (2001)[1]
Korean name
Hangul
유준
Hanja
有俊
Revised Romanization
Yu Jun
McCune–Reischauer
Yu Chun
John Choon Yoo (Korean: 유준; born July 10, 1967)[2] is a South Korean-born American legal scholar and former government official who serves as the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Yoo became known for his legal opinions concerning executive power, warrantless wiretapping, and the Geneva Conventions while serving in the George W. Bush administration, during which he was the author of the controversial "Torture Memos" in the War on Terror.
As the deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) of the Department of Justice, Yoo wrote the Torture Memos to determine the legal limits for the torture of detainees following the September 11 attacks. The legal guidance on interrogation authored by Yoo and his successors in the OLC were rescinded by President Barack Obama in 2009.[3][4][5] Some individuals and groups called for the investigation and prosecution of Yoo under various anti-torture and anti-war crimes statutes.[6][7][8][9]
A report by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility stated that Yoo's justification of waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation methods" constituted "intentional professional misconduct" and recommended that Yoo be referred to his state bar association for possible disciplinary proceedings.[10][11][12][13] Senior Justice Department lawyer David Margolis overruled the report in 2010, saying that Yoo and Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee—who authorized the memos—had exercised "poor judgment" but that the department lacked a clear standard to conclude misconduct.[14][12]
^"Past Bator Award Recipients". fed-soc.org. Archived from the original on May 19, 2010. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
^Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale, 2008.
^White House Office of the Press Secretary (January 22, 2009). "Executive order: Interrogation". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
^Warrock, Joby; DeYoung, Karen (January 23, 2009). "Obama Reverses Bush Policies On Detention and Interrogation". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 13, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
^Arsenault, Elizabeth Grimm (May 8, 2018). "Analysis | With (or without) Gina Haspel at CIA, could Trump revive the torture program?". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
^Cite error: The named reference monster was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^The New York Times Editorial Board (December 22, 2014). "Opinion | Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 21, 2020.
^Wiener, Jon (December 12, 2014). "Prosecute John Yoo, Says Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky". The Nation. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Retrieved December 15, 2014.
^Greenwald, Glenn (April 2, 2008). "John Yoo's War Crimes". Archived from the original on May 7, 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
^Cite error: The named reference DOJreport was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference OPR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abCite error: The named reference Isikoff was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Hunt, Kasie (February 19, 2010). "Justice: No misconduct in Bush interrogation memos". POLITICO. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
^Hunt, Kasie (February 19, 2010). "Justice: No misconduct in Bush interrogation memos". POLITICO. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
John Choon Yoo (Korean: 유준; born July 10, 1967) is a South Korean-born American legal scholar and former government official who serves as the Emanuel...
Alien Unlawful Combatants Held Outside The United States) were drafted by JohnYoo as Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States and signed in...
treated as prisoners of war? Officials including Justice Department lawyer JohnYoo recommended classifying them as "detainees" outside the protection of the...
Torture Memos, legal opinions prepared by political appointees including JohnYoo in the Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice. His memo of March...
with Yoo (Korean: 놀면 뭐하니?; MR: Nolmyŏn Mwohani?; lit. How Do You Play?) is a South Korean variety show hosted by Yoo Jae-suk. Hangout with Yoo first...
interrogation issues". United States Navy. Retrieved 27 May 2007. Yoo, John. "Memo from JohnYoo to Jim Haynes" (PDF). "Defense.gov Transcript: DoD News Briefing...
interrogation techniques. The OPR report findings were that former Deputy AAG JohnYoo committed intentional professional misconduct and that former AAG Jay Bybee...
United States. Most notably the legal opinions offered by Alberto Gonzales, JohnYoo et al. by invoking the unitary executive theory to justify the Bush administration's...
sorts to be treated hostis humani generis. Other commentators, such as JohnYoo, have called for the extension of this hypothetical connection of hostis...
Legal Counsel (OLC) in the U.S. Justice Department. They were written by JohnYoo, deputy assistant attorney-general in the OLC, and two of three were signed...
to bin Laden". CNN. May 6, 2011. Retrieved June 9, 2011. Yoo, John (May 4, 2011). "JohnYoo: From Guantanamo to Abbottabad". The Wall Street Journal....
Hangout with Yoo (Korean: 놀면 뭐하니?; RR: Nolmyeon Mwohani?) is a South Korean reality/variety show broadcast by MBC TV. It premiered on July 27, 2019, and...
Bybee and his assistant JohnYoo, is also referred to as the first Torture Memo. Addressed to CIA acting General Counsel John A. Rizzo at his request...
Berkowitz, John Bolton, Ellen Bork, David Brooks, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Christopher Hitchens, Harvey Mansfield, Cynthia Ozick, Joe Queenan, and JohnYoo. The...
Greg Jacob, and conservative legal scholars and other advisors, such as JohnYoo and J. Michael Luttig. Pence later released a letter stating he would not...
Roosevelt ordered their relocation to internment camps. In the 21st century, JohnYoo, attorney and legal theorist, has offered a theory of the unitary executive...
in the Constitution, leading some scholars such as Laurence Tribe and JohnYoo to suggest that they unconstitutionally circumvent the treaty-ratification...
Administration officials, including Deputy Assistant Attorney General JohnYoo, as well as prominent legal scholars such as Alan Dershowitz, publicly...
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Deputy Assistant Attorneys General JohnYoo and Jay Bybee, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and former counselors...
strength and scope of the doctrine. In 2008, Steven Calabresi and Christopher Yoo described the unitary executive theory as ensuring "the federal government...
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