A prisoner who says he was tortured while being held for nearly four years as a suspected terrorist can sue former Bush administration lawyer John Yoo for coming up with the legal theories that justified his alleged treatment, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Friday. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White’s decision marks the first time a government lawyer has been held potentially responsible for the abuse of detainees. ‘Like any other government official, government lawyers are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their conduct,’ White said in refusing to dismiss Jose Padilla’s lawsuit against Yoo. If Padilla, now serving a 17-year prison sentence on terrorism charges, can prove his allegations, he can show that Yoo ‘set in motion a series of events that resulted in the deprivation of Padilla’s constitutional rights,’ White said. White, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, noted that Padilla’s lawsuit accuses Yoo of helping to design administration policy on detention and torture, and then crafting legal opinions to justify it – stepping outside the usual role of a lawyer. Yoo, a UC Berkeley law professor, was an attorney in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel from 2001 […]