Inquirer op-ed columnist sued over torture

Hint: It wasn't Lisa Scottoline:

In the 42-page ruling, Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco characterized the conflict as one that embodies the tension "between the requirements of war and the defense of the very freedoms that war seeks to protect."

Mr. Yoo, as part of a senior administrative group called the War Council, helped to shape Bush administration policy in the war on terrorism, and as deputy attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel from 2001 to 2003, wrote many memorandums authorizing harsh treatment. Mr. Yoo had argued that he should be immune from the suit because it was not clearly established that the treatment would be unconstitutional.

Judge White, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, rejected all but one of Mr. Yoo's immunity claims and found that Mr. Padilla "has alleged sufficient facts to satisfy the requirement that Yoo set in motion a series of events that resulted in the deprivation of Padilla's constitutional rights."

More evidence that hiring Yoo was a really bad call -- "an unforced error" as I called it on Radio Times a couple of weeks ago. Meantime, I'm waiting on Yoo's next column. It's been nearly a month since the last one, so he's due, whether we like it or not.