Torture not “cruel and unusual punishment”?

[streicher187]

And Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has publicly claimed that the torture of prisoners does not violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment.” Scalia’s comment came during an interview with on CBS’s 60 Minutes.

Justice Scalia: I don’t like torture. I’m—although defining it is going to be a nice trick. But, I mean, who’s in favor of it? Nobody. And we have a law against torture. But if the—everything that is hateful and odious is not covered by some provision of the Constitution.

Lesley 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?

Justice Scalia: “No, no.”

Stahl: “Cruel and unusual punishment?”

Justice Scalia: “To the contrary. You think—you think that you would—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—”

Justice Scalia: “And you say he’s punishing you?”

Stahl: “Sure.”

Justice Scalia: “What’s he punishing you for? You punish somebody—”

Stahl: “Well, because he assumes you, one, either committed a crime—”

Justice Scalia: “No, no.”

Stahl: “—or that you know something that he wants to know.”

Justice Scalia: “It’s the latter. And when he’s—when he’s—when he’s hurting you in order to get information from you—”

Stahl: “Yeah.”

Justice Scalia: “—you don’t say he’s punishing you. What’s he punishing you for? He’s trying to extract—”

Stahl: “Because he thinks you’re a terrorist, and he’s going to beat the you-know-what out of you.”

Justice Scalia: “Anyway, that’s my view. And it happens to be correct.”


He also blamed Al Gore for taking the election to the supreme court in 2000(when it was Bush who went to the supreme court and said people need to just "Get over it" they made a decision that was not political )..