42 Facts About John Yoo

John Choon Yoo is a 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.

In 2020, John Yoo advised Vice President Mike Pence that he had no constitutional authority to interfere with the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

John Yoo's parents were anti-communist, having been refugees during the Korean War.

John Yoo immigrated to the United States with his family when he was a young child and grew up in Philadelphia.

John Yoo attended high school at Episcopal Academy, graduating in 1985.

John Yoo matriculated at Harvard University where he majored in American history and was a member of The Harvard Crimson.

John Yoo then attended Yale Law School, where he was a member of the Yale Law Journal, graduating with a JD in 1992.

John Yoo served as general counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 1996.

John Yoo has written multiple books on presidential power and the war on terrorism, and many articles in scholarly journals and newspapers.

John Yoo has held the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of Trento and has been a visiting law professor at the Free University of Amsterdam, the University of Chicago, and Chapman University School of Law.

Since 2003, John Yoo has been a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington.

John Yoo wrote a monthly column, "Closing Arguments", for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

John Yoo has written academic books including Crisis and Command.

John Yoo played an important role in developing a legal justification for the Bush administration's policy in the war on terrorism, arguing that prisoner of war status under the Geneva Conventions does not apply to "enemy combatants" captured during the war in Afghanistan and held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

In what was originally known as the Bybee memo, John Yoo asserted that executive authority during wartime allows waterboarding and other forms of torture, which were euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques".

John Yoo argued in his legal opinion that the president was not bound by the American War Crimes Act of 1996.

On March 14,2003, John Yoo wrote a legal opinion memo in response to the General Counsel of the Department of Defense, in which he concluded that torture not allowed by federal law could be used by interrogators in overseas areas.

John Yoo cited an 1873 Supreme Court ruling, on the Modoc Indian Prisoners, where the Supreme Court had ruled that Modoc Indians were not lawful combatants, so they could be shot, on sight, to justify his assertion that individuals apprehended in Afghanistan could be tortured.

Russia stated that John Yoo was among those responsible for "the legalization of torture" and "unlimited detention".

John Yoo provided a legal opinion backing the Bush Administration's warrantless wiretapping program.

John Yoo authored the October 23,2001 memo asserting that the President had sufficient power to allow the NSA to monitor the communications of US citizens on US soil without a warrant because the Fourth Amendment does not apply.

John Yoo suggested that since the primary task of the President during a time of war is protecting US citizens, the President has inherent authority to subordinate independent government agencies, and plenary power to use force abroad.

John Yoo contends that the Congressional check on Presidential war-making power comes from its power of the purse.

John Yoo says that the President, and not the Congress or courts, has sole authority to interpret international treaties such as the Geneva Conventions, "because treaty interpretation is a key feature of the conduct of foreign affairs".

In 1998 John Yoo criticized what he characterized as an imperial use of executive power by the Clinton administration.

At the time, John Yoo criticized President Clinton for contemplating defiance of a judicial order.

John Yoo suggested that Presidents could act in conflict with the Supreme Court, but that such measures were justified only during emergencies.

In 2000 John Yoo strongly criticized what he viewed as the Clinton administration's use of powers of what he termed the "Imperial Presidency".

John Yoo said it undermined "democratic accountability and respect for the law".

Yet, John Yoo has defended President Clinton, for his decision to use force abroad without congressional authorization.

John Yoo wrote in The Wall Street Journal on March 15,1999, that Clinton's decision to attack Serbia was constitutional.

John Yoo then criticized Democrats in Congress for not suing Clinton as they had sued presidents Bush and Reagan to stop the use of force abroad.

In 2019, on Fox News, John Yoo made the comment "Some might call that espionage" when discussing Lt.

John Yoo subsequently said "I really regret the choice of words" and that he had been referring to Ukrainian officials rather than Vindman.

John Yoo wrote a 2020 book about Trump titled Defender in Chief: Donald Trump's Fight for Presidential Power.

Padilla's attorney used this information in the lawsuit, saying that John Yoo caused Padilla's damages by authorizing his alleged torture by his memoranda.

On May 2,2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that John Yoo had qualified immunity at the time of his memos, because certain issues had not then been settled legally by the US Supreme Court.

The Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility concluded in a 261-page report in July 2009 that John Yoo committed "intentional professional misconduct" when he "knowingly failed to provide a thorough, objective, and candid interpretation of the law", and it recommended a referral to the Pennsylvania Bar for disciplinary action.

In foreign relations, John Yoo has argued that the original understanding of the Constitution gives the President the authority to use armed force abroad without congressional authorization, subject to Congress's power of the purse; that treaties do not generally have domestic legal force without implementing legislation; and that courts are functionally ill-suited to intervene in foreign policy disputes between the President and Congress.

In international law, John Yoo has written that the rules governing the use of force must be understood to allow nations to engage in armed intervention to end humanitarian disasters, rebuild failed states, and stop terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

John Yoo is known as an opponent of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

John Yoo is married to Elsa Arnett, the daughter of journalist Peter Arnett.