The Obama administration has asked an appeals court to dismiss a torture lawsuit against former Bush administration lawyer John Yoo. The former so-called “enemy combatant” Jose Padilla is suing Yoo for devising the legal justification for his imprisonment and torture. Padilla was jailed for forty-three months without charge in a Navy brig in South Carolina and is now serving a seventeen-year sentence. In a court filing, the Obama administration says federal laws prevent damage claims against lawyers who advise the president on national security.