E-mail:
Jack Balkin: jackbalkin at yahoo.com
Bruce Ackerman bruce.ackerman at yale.edu
Ian Ayres ian.ayres at yale.edu
Corey Brettschneider corey_brettschneider at brown.edu
Mary Dudziak mary.l.dudziak at emory.edu
Joey Fishkin joey.fishkin at gmail.com
Heather Gerken heather.gerken at yale.edu
Abbe Gluck abbe.gluck at yale.edu
Mark Graber mgraber at law.umaryland.edu
Stephen Griffin sgriffin at tulane.edu
Jonathan Hafetz jonathan.hafetz at shu.edu
Jeremy Kessler jkessler at law.columbia.edu
Andrew Koppelman akoppelman at law.northwestern.edu
Marty Lederman msl46 at law.georgetown.edu
Sanford Levinson slevinson at law.utexas.edu
David Luban david.luban at gmail.com
Gerard Magliocca gmaglioc at iupui.edu
Jason Mazzone mazzonej at illinois.edu
Linda McClain lmcclain at bu.edu
John Mikhail mikhail at law.georgetown.edu
Frank Pasquale pasquale.frank at gmail.com
Nate Persily npersily at gmail.com
Michael Stokes Paulsen michaelstokespaulsen at gmail.com
Deborah Pearlstein dpearlst at yu.edu
Rick Pildes rick.pildes at nyu.edu
David Pozen dpozen at law.columbia.edu
Richard Primus raprimus at umich.edu
K. Sabeel Rahmansabeel.rahman at brooklaw.edu
Alice Ristroph alice.ristroph at shu.edu
Neil Siegel siegel at law.duke.edu
David Super david.super at law.georgetown.edu
Brian Tamanaha btamanaha at wulaw.wustl.edu
Nelson Tebbe nelson.tebbe at brooklaw.edu
Mark Tushnet mtushnet at law.harvard.edu
Adam Winkler winkler at ucla.edu
Meet the New Boss: Judge Mukasey is Agnostic on Whether Waterboarding is Lawful
Marty Lederman
Just now, in response to repeated questions, he insisted that he did not know enough to say whether waterboarding, or any other technique, is torture, cruel treatment under Common Article 3, or otherwise unlawful. It's really remarkable how far we have fallen when a jurist of Judge Mukasey's caliber cannot answer such questions without hesitation.
[UPDATE: Talking Points reports that Mukasey also refused to disclaim the idea that the President has a constitutional power to violate FISA. (Watching his early colloquy with Leahy just now, I see that Mukasey cites the Prize Cases as authority for the President disregarding a statute -- but under the Prize Cases, not only wasn't Lincoln acting contrary to statute; his conduct was authorized by statute.)
And Human Rights First reports that Judge Mukasey has testified that interrogations are not necessarily governed by Common Article 3, notwithstanding the Court's ruling in Hamdan -- an argument that even the Bush Administration has disclaimed!]
But really, did we have reason to expect any better -- to think that Judge Mukasey would opine that his new boss has been violating the law? The real disappointment is that the Democratic Senators don't seem to care about their own prerogatives. Posted
11:52 AM
by Marty Lederman [link]