When asked at a recent Congressional hearing, John Yoo–chief legal architect of the Bush torture policy and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel–refused declare that burying prisoners alive would be illegal for the president to order.  Watch here.

As noted previously here and here, in prior Congressional hearings in 2007 and 2008, current attorney general Michael Mukasey refused to say whether he thought waterboarding, beatings, electric shocks, or the use of the rack and screw could be authorized by the president.  Watch those videos here and here.

The good: Boumediene ruling (Supreme Court says “prompt” habeas hearings are Guantánamo detainees’ right. They have a right to habeas corpus. Really this time. No, really. No, no, really. At least until the administration attempts another convenient work around.).

The bad: Munaf ruling (Meanwhile, on the same day, the Supreme Court failed to adequately protect two U.S. citizens from transfer to Iraqi custody, under which they say they will be tortured).

The ugly: John McCain categorically calls all Guantánamo detainees “unlawful combatants” even though their right to have a real judge determine whether such labels apply is what all the fuss in the Supreme Court has been about. McCain also suggested that because the Guantánamo detainees are foreigners, they do not deserve the right to try to prove to a judge why they should not be imprisoned.