It’s been made popular by 24. The ticking bomb scenario. The idea that a nuclear bomb is tucked away somewhere in Los Angeles and Kiefer Sutherland must beat some no-good terrorist into telling him where it is. It’s exciting television. It’s shitty law.

But a Supreme Court Justice, a fucking Supreme Court Justice, has cited this “ticking bomb scenario” as a perfectly valid reason to torture someone. “I suppose it’s the same thing about so-called torture. Is it really so easy to determine that smacking someone in the face to determine where he has hidden the bomb that is about to blow up Los Angeles is prohibited in the constitution?” Scalia said in a “rare interview” (BBC). So-called torture? No wonder Scalia gives interviews so rarely.