Friday, May 1, 2009

 

United States v. Parker et al, 1983 Case

A lot of blogs have been talking about a supposed 1983 case, United States v. Parker et al., in connection with waterboarding and torture. I got caught up in trying to find it. The blogs (e.g. Andrew Sullivan) have been talking about how atrocious it is that Prof. Yoo didn't mention the case in his memo. Ironically, not a single blog gives a citation to the case. Most do not even give its name-- they just tell the story. I looked up United States v. Parker in Lexis, and came back with 14 cases, none of which was in 1983. From this, I wonder if the case really exists. Or, if it does, was it ever recorded? Was there some way John Yoo could have learned of its existence?

The search term "San Jacinto County Sheriff" doesn't turn up anything relevant either (17 results, if I remember rightly), and "Floyd Allen Baker" only turns up 2 irrelevant Iowa cases.

 

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