Scalia: Torture’s not such a bad thing
Posted by svolk on August 8th, 2008
On April 27, 2008, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spoke with CBS’s 60 Minutes’ reporter Lesley Stahl, arguing that the torture didn’t really fit the 8th Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.”
STAHL: If someone’s in custody, as in Abu Ghraib, and they are brutalized, by a law enforcement person — if you listen to the expression “cruel and unusual punishment,” doesn’t that apply?
SCALIA: No. To the contrary. You think — Has anybody ever referred to torture as punishment? I don’t think so.
STAHL: Well I think if you’re in custody, and you have a policeman who’s taken you into custody–
SCALIA: And you say he’s punishing you? What’s he punishing you for? … When he’s hurting you in order to get information from you, you wouldn’t say he’s punishing you. What is he punishing you for?
Take a look:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/GX3MkfAtKmI" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX3MkfAtKmI
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