Federal Judge: If Torture Prevents Detainee Convictions, ‘So Be It’

[struggle4progress]

By Spencer Ackerman 1/22/10 1:15 PM

One concern that may animate the Obama administration’s Guantanamo task force deciding that about 50 detainees must be held indefinitely without trial is that the basis for any prosecution is evidence obtained through torture or abuse. Judge John Coughenour, a sitting federal judge on the U.S. District Court in Seattle, rejected that legal contention in a forum in New York.

If the United States can’t obtain convictions because it tortured detainees at Guantanamo, Coughenour said at a discussion hosted by the Constitution Project and the Open Society Institute, “So be it.” In those cases, the U.S. must simply accept that losing out on a prosecution is “part of the price you pay for being committed the way we are to due process and a constitutional process for convicting people.” As to the contention that those detainees are too dangerous for release, “the world is not at a loss for dangerous people,” said the judge, who presided at the trial of would-be Millenium bomber Ahmed Rassam in 2005 ...

http://washingtonindependent.com/74575/federal-judge-if-torture-prevents-detainee-convictions-so-be-it

[Sanity Claws]

1. Coughenour is a Republican

I think he was appointed by Reagan.

[Demeter]

2. So, Reagan Slipped Up and Appointed a Sane Man

Accidents happen.

[Recursion]

6. Lower-level appointees are usually on actual merits

Or, at least they were back in Reagan's day. I'm sure W changed that too.

[katandmoon]

3. Obama just ignore federal rulings he doesn't like, anyway.

[struggle4progress]

4. Really? What exactly are you talking about?

[katandmoon]

5. This

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x73452

[bemildred]

7. Torture ought to prevent convictions.

Just like that failure to read people their Miranda rights, or other sorts of government misuse of power.

[mbperrin]

8. Thank you! A judge who actually believes in rule of law.

AND common sense and decency.