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Ricochet Replay: A Night with John Yoo
For those of you who couldn’t make our live broadcast, we present A Night with John Yoo.
John spends an hour+ with Ricochet Editor Emeritus Troy Senik to talk about his new book, “Defender in Chief,” to reminisce about clerking on the Supreme Court and his time in the Bush 43 Administration and legacy as “the torture memo lawyer.”
John also takes a wide range of questions from the Ricochet membership.
Published in General, Law, Podcasts, Politics
Thank you for a great event! @johnyoo was a panel speaker at The Federalist Society Student Symposium at Columbia in 2006. It was my first trip to NYC and I skipped most of it to experience New York City solo, except I was sure to hear Professor Yoo. I’m glad I stayed for that – I don’t particularly recall Kohn Bolton’s keynote…but I distinctly remember the “protesters” who showed up in orange jumpsuits and shackles and being in awe at how utterly unfazed Mr. Yoo was as he strolled through the melee. What an experience!
Your story at about the 38 minute mark reminded me of this. Thanks again!!
I really like John Yoo. I think he comes down just a little too heavily on the side of presidential power.
I really enjoyed that hour. Thanks for letting us all participate. Mr. Yoo is a remarkable man. I hope I get to meet him someday.
We don’t drink bourbon. We drink Tennessee whiskey.
I couldn’t see this live per a family obligation, so I appreciate the posting. I went back to find the Jon Stewart interview, and I agree with Jon on one thing. John Yoo is infamous, the OG of Bush law. :)
I love Yoo’s frank humor, measured intelligence, and good natured charm. He is one of the few men on the planet who really makes me feel more comfortable about supporting the president’s bid for another four years in office outside the absolute panic I feel when contemplating the progressive vision of power.
The one question that I wish someone would have asked him would have been how in the world he got hired at UC Berkeley after his role in 9/11 and if he thinks he would be hired at the same institution in 2020 if he had played the same sort of role for Trump at some point in his career. I think there is a great chilling effect on who will work in the Trump administration now, but maybe this is in my mind because we sometimes forget how polarizing Bush was as well.
The answer: he didn’t. John’s been at Berkeley since 1993. He took a leave of absence to work in government.
Ah! Then he must eat the souls of young children along with his McRibs while drinking his bourbon because he never ages. The truth is that I think he looks more trim and healthier today than in the Jon Stewart interview!
The second part of the question would, however, still stand, and perhaps it can be asked during an episode of Law Talk? (The same would apply to Epstein.)
Does he think that he could have gotten onto the faculty of a prestigious law school today if he had first worked for a controversial Republican president? (This would really be most pertinent, I suppose, to the generation of young lawyers who might/might not ever teach per what I see as a “freeze out” in the most prestigious institutions.)
One of the many things that bothers me in the post-Bush days is how that man forgets how the rank and file defended him back then. Because he sure doesn’t defend us or back our decisions.
Also, I just went to Barnes and Noble to buy the book. A guy had to go into the back to find it because it wasn’t on a shelf yet. Hmmmm…. Looking forward to reading it.