The Washington Post has an interesting article today on John Yoo's efforts to defend his work at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. It begins:

Some public figures, if their judgment and ethics come under fire, retreat into solitude. Then there is John C. Yoo.

The former Justice Department official, whose memos blessed the waterboarding of terrorism suspects and wiretapping of American citizens, has come out fighting, even as negative assessments of his government service pile up. . . .

While former colleagues have avoided attention in the face of such scrutiny, Yoo has been traveling across the country to give speeches and counter critics who dispute his bold view of the president's authority. Now a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, he engages in polite but firm exchanges with legal scholars over conclusions in their academic work.

The article also discusses the effect of Yoo's decision to retain private counsel rather than rely upon DoJ attorneys. This decision avoids a potential conflict-of-interest for DoJ attorneys who would have had to defend Yoo while opposing his policies.