"Jack Bauer Saved Los Angeles...He saved hundreds of thousands of lives."
-- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

Jack Bauer is a fictional character. Antonin Scalia's comments to a group of Canadian jurists during an open panel discussion regarding torture and terrorism law raised the issue of this character's continued and pernicious use of torture to "save hundreds of thousands of lives".

Nevermind that one of the most powerful jurists on the planet seems ready to excuse torture in extreme cases but this great mind of jurisprudence has staked his basic premise to a fictional act of terrorism in a television show. He went on to say, when questioned about the admissability of evidence gained during periods of torture "I don't care about holding people. I really don't", presumably meaning that even if he had to let the torture victim go after he got his evidence, that would be just fine with him. (I wonder if the parents of -- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. -- Geneva Convention, Part 3, Article 17.

Apparently, Mr. Scalia has no interest in internationally binding treaties either....

Quotes attributed to Justice Scalia first appeared in the Globle and Mail, Saturday, June 16, 2007.