On "60 Minutes" Supreme Court Justice Scalia says "Torture Is Not Punishment"
Here's a summary from Antiwar.com:
Sphere: Related ContentIn an interview on last Sunday's 60 Minutes, Leslie Stahl asked if the term “cruel and unusual punishment” applies to someone “being brutalized by a law enforcement person,” Scalia replied:
“To the contrary, has anybody ever referred to torture as punishment? I don’t think so.”
The exchange continued:
“Well, I think if you are in custody, and you have a policeman who’s taken you into custody…,” Stahl says.
“And you say he’s punishing you?” Scalia asks.
“Sure,” Stahl replies.
“What’s he punishing you for? You punish somebody…,” Scalia says.
“Well because he assumes you, one, either committed a crime…or that you know something that he wants to know,” Stahl says.
“It’s the latter. And when he’s hurting you in order to get information from you…you don’t say he’s punishing you. What’s he punishing you for? He’s trying to extract…,” Scalia says.
“Because he thinks you are a terrorist and he’s going to beat the you-know-what out of you…,” Stahl replies.
“Anyway, that’s my view,” Scalia says. “And it happens to be correct.”
1 comment:
Yes, a huge ass. The interviewer is apparently won over by his fat/ jolliness, the fact that he loves his grandkids and his wife and New York (big accomplishments), but everything he says I cringe at, everything down to his "jokes."
Wouldn't Scalia's argument, besides being ridiculous, also seem to acknowledge that those who are tortured aren't technically prisoners? And wouldn't this mean that they're wrongfully detained?
Under The Bill of Rights our government can't cruelly or unusually punish people for their crimes. But if no crime is committed, and no charges of crime are levied, then maybe the government can torture??
And in this way torture is not "punishment" because no charge of crime has been levied against the detainees, right? (Maybe this is the crux of the ongoing detainee rights debate and I'm just now grasping it. Or maybe I'm confusing myself and am dumb.)
If this is Scalia's reasoning, he's got to know he's walking a thin line of bullshit for the admin. And thanks to "60 Minutes," now America knows where he stands if the issue were ever to go to court.
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