An appeals court said Wednesday that John Yoo, the former Bush-era Justice Department official who authored the so-called “torture memos,” can’t be sued by a convicted terrorist.
Jose Padilla sued Yoo over memos he authored for DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel which were used as legal justification for U.S. officials to use harsh interrogation techniques that his legal team said amounted to torture, the Associated Press reports.
The suit was tossed out by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Yoo, now a professor at Berkley, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
