Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Interrogation Law Is a Secret:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_12_31-2007_01_06.shtml#1167844350
The Senate Judiciary Committee would like details on what the Justice
Department considers to be the legal limits on coercive interrogation
techniques (i.e. where harsh-but-permissible interrogation techniques
end and torture or otherwise illegal conduct begins). The Justice
Department says no dice. Regardless of one's views of the proper
limits of legal interrogation, this should be troubling. As [1]Marty
Lederman comments:
there is usually very good reason for not disclosing information on
exactly which tactics and methods the CIA has actually used on
which detainees, and which techniques have been successful. Much of
what the CIA does around the world is kept secret, at least in the
short run. But I remain unconvinced that it is necessary to
classify the legal limits on the CIA's interrogation techniques --
i.e., to have a secret law that the public and the Congress cannot
know about.
References
1. http://balkin.blogspot.com/2007/01/our-secret-law-of-interrogation.html
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