John Yoo

John Choon Yoo is an American legal scholar and professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley.

John Choon Yoo is an American legal scholar and professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley. He is known for his work on constitutional law, national security, executive power, and for authoring legal memoranda in the George W. Bush administration that became known as the “Torture Memos.” His scholarship on executive power, constitutional interpretation, and interrogation law is relevant to Canadian legal and policy debates, especially where U.S. national security law influences comparative public-law scholarship.

Early life and education

John Yoo was born in Seoul, South Korea, in 1967 and later grew up in the United States. He earned a B.A. from Harvard University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Academic career

Yoo has been a professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law since the 1990s. Berkeley says he supervises the Public Law and Policy Program and the California Constitution Center, and that his scholarship focuses on national security, constitutional law, and related subjects. He has also held visiting or fellowship roles at other institutions.

Government service

From 2001 to 2003, Yoo served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. He had earlier worked as general counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and clerked for Judge Laurence Silberman and Justice Clarence Thomas.

Torture Memos controversy

Yoo became widely known for legal opinions written after the September 11 attacks that defined broad presidential powers and addressed interrogation law. These memoranda were later criticized as enabling abusive interrogation practices, and the guidance was rescinded in 2009 by President Barack Obama.

Books and public commentary

Yoo has written several books on constitutional law, war powers, and executive authority, including works published in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2020, and 2023. He has published more than 100 academic articles on national security, constitutional law, international law, and the Supreme Court. He remains a prominent public commentator on presidential power and national security law.