Judiciary Hearing on Guantanamo - Part III

June 26, 2008

The Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties is currently holding a hearing, "From the Department of Justice to Guantanamo Bay: Administration Lawyers and Administration Interrogation Rules, Part III." Witnesses will include David Addington, Chief of Staff to the Vice President; John Yoo, the former Justice Department lawyer who wrote a now-repudiated memo allowing the harsh interrogations; and Christopher Schroeder, Charles S. Murphy Professor of Law and Public Policy Studies at Duke University.

Watch the hearing live via committee webcast or on C Span 3.

Subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler questions the witnesses:

Chairman Nadler: "Is there any set of facts that would justify the President in violating a statute?"

Addington: "I'm not going to answer a legal opinion on every imaginable set of facts any human being can think of, Mr. Chairman."

Chairman Nadler: "Do you believe that the... torture of a restrained detainee could be allowed under the theory of self-defense and necessity?"

Addington: "I haven't expressed an opinion on that."

Chairman Nadler: "Do you have such an opinion?"

Addington: "I haven't researched the issue myself, I've relied on opinions on the subject issued by the Department of Justice."

Full Committee Chairman John Conyers questions the witnesses:

Chairman Conyers: "I didn't ask you if you ever gave him advice, I asked you do you think the President could order a suspect buried alive?"

Yoo: "Mr. Chairman, my view right now, is I don't think a president would -- no American president would ever have to order that or feel it necessary to order that."

Chairman Conyers: "I think we understand the games that are being played..."