Back to the 15th century

I know this is old news now, but really, I do have to express some outrage when a member of the Supreme Court says the courts have no right to stop torture so long as it's being used for interrogation rather than punitive purposes.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia rejected the notion that US courts have any control over the actions of American troops at Guantanamo Bay, argued that torture of terror detainees is not banned under the US Constitution and insisted that the high court has no obligation to act as a moral beacon for other nations.

... Scalia said it was "extraordinary" to suggest that the 8th Amendment, which prohibits the government from engaging in "cruel and unusual punishment," could be applied to the actions of US interrogators questioning foreign subjects detained overseas. In his view, Scalia said that while the 8th Amendment would prohibit locking up someone indefinitely as punishment for a crime, for example, the CIA or military would be perfectly justified keeping a suspected insurgent or member of al Qaeda imprisoned forever if the detainee refused to answer questions.

"Is it obvious that what can't be done for punishment can't be done to extract information that is crucial to the society?" Scalia asked.

Ah yes, Antonius Scalitus Torquemadus.

By the way, more than one thing happened in 1492. Yes, Columbus discovered America, but two other rather important things happened that year. The Christians pushed the moors out of Spain and the Spanish Inquisition began. The last two things were somewhat related to each other.