The Retroactive Legalization of Torture

That’s the effect of the Obama administration’s final determination that no official, high or petty, should be held accountable for the Bush administration’s institutionalized torture regime. Laws on the books are beside the point if it’s clear they can be violated with impunity. And while there are very real barriers to successful prosecutions that are beyond the administration’s control, the idea that there wasn’t a single torture case that was as worthy of resources as, say, steroid witch hunt cases that wouldn’t be worth pursuing even if the government actually had a case is not plausible.

Update: [PC] Related thoughts.