Americans Want Torture Investigation: Poll

(NEWSER) - AG Eric Holder today named a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of torture against CIA operatives who interrogated terror suspects during the Bush administration, the Washington Post reports. John Durham, who is currently probing the destruction of interrogation tapes, will look into fewer than 12 cases detailed in a CIA report released today and determine if a full-scale investigation is warranted. The Bush-era Justice Department investigated and dismissed the cases. More»

'Quaint' calls for balance follow reign of 'Boy Emperor'

(NEWSER) - As their party contracts with the defection of Arlen Specter, the GOP is complaining about a disappearing balance of power: “How quaint,” writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times—this from the party whose “arrogant” previous administration “did its best to undermine checks and balances.” Meanwhile, the current “professor in chief” is playing constitutional scholar, assuring us he won’t run things like “the Boy Emperor and his regents.” More»

Torture allegations trump state secrets argument, panel rules

(NEWSER) - Five men who allege they were kidnapped and tortured on the orders of CIA agents may bring suit in federal court, an appeals panel ruled yesterday. Presidents Bush and Obama both contended that the case should be dismissed to protect classified evidence. But a federal appeals court panel ruled presidential powers to guard state secrets "are not the only weighty constitutional values at stake." More»

GOP, Obama can't halt proceeding vs. Bybee

(NEWSER) - House Democrats may start a constitutional confrontation over the fate of Judge Jay Bybee, and there’s nothing anybody—not even lukewarm President Obama—can do to stop them, reports Politico. As liberal think-tanker John Podesta argues, Bybee “authorized things that were illegal under US law” when he wrote memos endorsing waterboarding in his role as a Bush legal adviser. More»

(AP) - Seeking to move beyond what he calls a "a dark and painful chapter in our history," President Barack Obama said today that CIA officials who used harsh interrogation tactics during the Bush administration will not be prosecuted. Obama officials also released four secret memos detailing tactics against 28 prisoners, from waterboarding to using a plastic neck collar to slam detainees into walls. More»