From Jimmy Akin:
Below is an hour-long video interview with Justice Antonin Scalia which was aired on the Charlie Rose Show.
Charlie Rose comes across at numerous points not as a serious journalist as a hard leftie who thinks he's a serious journalist and who insists on viewing every issue through an ideological lens--although in fairness to him he does at times try to view things from what he takes to be Scalia's perspective.
Despite the annoying Rose-factor, though, the interview is still well worth watching due to the remarkable candor and insight of the man being interviewed.
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"Faith then cometh by hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ."
Rom 10:17(DRV)
Isn't Scalia the same guy who said that torture can't be considered cruel and unusual punishment because torture isn't punishment?
Yup. That's him.
Ya' see, he's one of those odd types who thinks words have meaning, and "torture" means torture (i.e., pain used as a means to extract information) and "punishment" means "punishment" (i.e., a penalty inflicted as recompense for wrongdoing).
Punishment can be excessive, cruel or unusual...but as long as it's being used as a penalty for wrongdoing, it's still "punishment". Likewise, torture can be cruel or unusual...but as long as it's being used to elicit information it's still torture.
Depending on the context, waterboarding could be torture or it could be punishment. Scalia was saying that the prohibition on punishment is not, according to the words themselves, applicable to torture.
...at least, that's the way I read it.
God Bless,
Ryan
To be clear, allow me to use an example.
If you got busted on a breaking and entering charge and the judge said, "I sentence you to 10 hours of waterboarding," you could claim that's a "punishment" and that it's cruel and unusual.
If you were a terrorist and there was a "ticking bomb scenario" and they waterboarded you for 10 hours to get you to tell people where the bomb was, that would be "torture".
Personally, I think they'd both fall into the broad category of unjustified acts -- but I have to agree with Scalia's distinction. Torture is not punishment, and punishment is not torture. Words have meaning.
Hope that helps.
God Bless