Former Attorneys General Alberto Gonzales and John Ashcroft stood firm against criticism of the Bush administration's use of waterboarding, maintaining the practice was not torture.
Both Gonzales and Ashcroft defended the interrogation tactic, their and other administration lawyers' advice on which was outlined in memos released last month by the Obama administration.
"I think that the U.S. government provided advice to CIA interrogators based upon the best legal reasoning by the lawyers in the Department of Justice," Gonzales <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-03/bushs-lawyers-strike-back/">said at a forum at American Jewish University</a>, moderated by Dan Abrams. "Was it torture, when that advice was given? No. Were the interrogations harsh? Yes. Did they save lives? Absolutely."
"I believe that the work of the department by these professionals came to the right conclusion," Ashcroft said. "That, as described, and as commented on in their memorandum, that it was not torture."
Gonzales said that some Justice Department and military officials had undergone the technique, which critics have alleged amounts to torture, during training exercises.
Gonzales, though, refused to call the memos a mistake, only saying that while he made his own mistakes while in public service, the Justice Department acted admirably to keep the U.S. safe.
President Obama made a surprise appearance in Friday afternoon's White House briefing to confirm that Justice Souter had submitted his resignation.
"I am incredibly grateful for his dedicated service," Obama said. "I wish him safe travels on his journey home to his beloved New Hampshire."
"I will seek someone with a sharp independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity," Obama said about his choice for a new nominee. "I will seek someone who is dedicated to the rule of law, who honors our constitutional traditions."
The president pledged to work with members of Congress in both parties and across the political spectrum, and set the beginning of the court's next term in October as an objective for when a new nominee should be seated.
There is no doubt that President Obama will be under pressure to name a woman and/or a Hispanic jurist to fill the vacancy left by Justice David Souter's retirement, Sen. Bed Cardin (D-Md.) said Friday.
Cardin, a member of the Judiciary Committee that will have the first chance to publicly vet Obama's eventual nominee, pledged that the Senate would not rubber-stamp any nominee, despite being controlled by Democrats.
"I can tell you he'll be under pressure, there's no question about it," Cardin said of the momentum for appointing a woman or Hispanic justice. "But I think he's going to try to pick the very best person he can. He understands that there are only nine justices, and this is an extremely important appointment."
"But look, this is a lifetime appointment, so I can tell you that the Senate is going to take this confirmation process very seriously," Cardin said. "We want someone who has a passion for the constitutional protections, who has the judicial temperament."
"This is going to be an appointment that's going to be thoroughly reviewed by the United States Senate," he added.
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) said Friday that it is her intent to finish her term as governor, dodging a question over whether she'd accept a potential nomination to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court.
Granholm, whose name has come up in discussions over a variety of positions in the Obama administration, called talk of a potential Supreme Court nomination "distracting."
News of Justice David Souter's impending retirement broke Thursday night, and conventional wisdom in Washington has centered on female candidates to fill the vacancy.
Granholm, a graduate of Harvard University's law school, is term-limited and cannot seek reelection in 2010. At only 50 years old, she could conceivably act as a reliably liberal jurist for as long as a quarter-century.
"You're right, I hate this talk because it's so distracting," Granholm said on the Paul W. Smith Show on Detroit's WJR radio station. As I've said for months, I intend to finish my term as governor. And, reality check on this: every member of the court is a former judge, and I'm not a judge."
Granholm refused to elaborate on the potential vacancy.
"If Gov. Jennifer Granholm is offered the highly-regarded and respected position of being a Supreme Court justice of these United States, she would have to accept that offer and take that position," Smith opined at the end of the segment.
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a 5-4 decision that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can fine "fleeting expletives" -- single curse words that escape censors during broadcasts.
The court upheld FCC fines levied against Fox for fleeting expletives used by celebrity Nicole Richie during a 2003 broadcast of the Billboard Music Awards, overruling an appeals court on the issue.
The court's five reliable conservative justices voted to uphold the policy, while the court's four liberal justices found themselves in the minority. Justice Antonin Scalia authored the opinion.
"The [FCC] could reasonably conclude that the pervasiveness of foul language,and the coarsening of public entertainment in other media such as cable, justify more stringent regulation of broadcast programs so as to give conscientious parents a relatively safe haven for their children," Scalia wrote in the opinion.
The policy could still face a challenge, however: Scalia was careful to note that the court's decision did not touch upon the First Amendment implications for the policy, but rather, the appeals court's finding that the FCC policy was "arbitrary and capricious."
Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) introduced three pieces of legislation that would stem expansions of executive power undertaken by the Bush administration.
The trio of bills would prevent courts from relying on so-called "signing statements" issued by presidents when signing legislation, would require court review of wiretaps, and make the government financially responsible for any actions taken by phone companies that wiretap without warrants.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said Thursday she's "sure" there will be some sort of congressional investigation into Justice Department lawyers who signed off on waterboarding and other interrogation tactics.
"I think there are enough members that want to make sure the information is all on the record, that we have certainly looked behind every nook and cranny to see exactly what happened," she said. "So I'm sure there'll be some form of investigation in Congress."
The Missouri Democrat said that Justice Dept. lawyers shouldn't get off for approving the controversial tactics, breaking with the Obama administration, which has indicated a preference that there be no criminal investigations.
"I think giving these lawyers a pass is a big problem because when you're a lawyer, your job is to show what the law is, not to give somebody the political answer they want," McCaskill said this morning during an appearance on MSNBC.
McCaskill opened the door to lawyers potentially being disbarred for the legal advice they provided Bush administration officials, as well.
"It may be malpractice, and they maybe should have their tickets pulled as lawyers because you are supposed to tell, when you're asked, what the law is, not what your bosses want to hear," she continued, adding that she's "anxious" to read the outcome of an investigation into the memos by the Office of Professional Responsibility.
Americans who use assault weapons to defend their homes are "crazy," Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) claimed Friday.
"If you have an assault weapon to protect your house, you're crazy," Rendell said this morning on CNBC, advocating for the return of a ban on assault weapons. "They jam and they're not very effective. You should have a revolver or something like that."
Rendell said that lawmakers in state capitols and Washington are "needlessly" scared of the National Rifle Association's (NRA) influence, and argued a return of the ban would lend greater support to police forces trying to stem violent crime.
"These weapons have one purpose: to kill and to maim," Rendell asserted. "They shouldn't be in the hands of anybody but the police or the military."
He continued: "Do you think the an individual citizen has the right to a surface-to-air missile? Of course not! We have the right to ban certain types of weapons; that doesn't infringe on our basic rights to bear arms."
The key sponsor of the 1994 assault weapons ban said Thursday she will not seek to renew the now-lapsed gun law right now.
While Feinstein said she would like to see the bill renewed, she said that an effort to renew the ban would be a distraction to the Obama administration.
"I wouldn't bring it up now," Feinstein told "60 Minutes" in an interview that will air Sunday night. "I'll pick the time and the place, no question about it."
Feinstein said no one from the administration had tried to sway her on when she would introduce the legislation. "Nobody said a word to me," the California Democrat said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said earlier this week that the House would try to forge some sort of compromise on an assault weapons ban, which the Bush administration let lapse after the law was sunset in 2004.
Feinstein also had harsh words for the gun lobby's influence on the legislation.
"The National Rifle Association essentially has a stranglehold on the Congress," she said.
President Obama "has a deep-seated antipathy toward American values and traditions," former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) alleged Thursday.
On the basis of Obama's actions last week in Europe and the president's nomination of Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh to be the State Dept.'s top lawyer, Santorum said Obama "disdains" U.S. values.
"Watching President Obama apologize last week for America's arrogance -- before a French audience that owes its freedom to the sacrifices of Americans -- helped convince me that he has a deep-seated antipathy toward American values and traditions," Santorum wrote in a piece for the Philadelphia Inquirer. "His nomination of former Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh to be the State Department's top lawyer constitutes further evidence of his disdain for American values."
Santorum ripped into Obama's nomination of Koh, whose nomination many conservatives have vigorously targeted.
Santorum wrote:
Koh tops the list of Obama's potential Supreme Court nominees. Is this what Sen. John Kerry meant when he once suggested that American policy must pass a "global test"? Or what Barack Obama meant when he said last week that we have failed to "appreciate Europe's leading role in the world"? Or when he spoke of "change we can believe in"? And just who are "we"?
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