You may have already heard about it by now, but it’s just too good to pass up. The most esteemed conservative judge in America Anthony Scalia recently defended the use of torture by referring to the feats of none other than Jack Bauer – the fictional lead character on the show 24.
Senior judges from North America and Europe were in the midst of a panel discussion about torture and terrorism law, when a Canadian judge’s passing remark – “Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe to the mantra ‘What would Jack Bauer do?’ ” – got the legal bulldog in Judge Scalia barking.
The conservative jurist stuck up for Agent Bauer, arguing that fictional or not, federal agents require latitude in times of great crisis. “Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles. … He saved hundreds of thousands of lives,” Judge Scalia said. Then, recalling Season 2, where the agent’s rough interrogation tactics saved California from a terrorist nuke, the Supreme Court judge etched a line in the sand.
“Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?” Judge Scalia challenged his fellow judges. “Say that criminal law is against him? ‘You have the right to a jury trial?’ Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer? I don’t think so.
When pressed about holding people in order to obtain information Scalia stated that he didn’t care then referred to a “great” scene in the second season where Jack threatens to kill a man’s family if he doesn’t tell him where some bomb is.
It’s almost too absurd to believe, isn’t it? I guess mom was right. Television does rot your mind.
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That’s hilarious. I am a huge 24 fan, but I’m smart enough to know that it’s fantasy at its finest, not a social commentary that can be used as precedent in the Supreme Court. Scalia should be removed for this.
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