Washington, DC - In a unanimous decision today the Supreme Court ruled that having prisoners of war re-enact scenes from the movie “Deliverance” is permissible under the provisions of the Geneva Convention.
Writing for the court, Justice Antonin Scalia noted that “the Geneva Convention encourages the use of amateur theatrical productions in order to provide entertainment for detainees. The terms of the Convention, however, are silent when it comes to the nature and content of the theatrical productions in question. Therefore, the court can find no compelling legal justification for denying detainees the right to be made to ‘squeal like a pig,’ as long as this is done in the context of artistic expression.”
Civil libertarians and free speech advocates hailed the decision as the most significant court ruling since Marbury v. Madison. “I think that this will do wonders to restore American credibility in the Middle East and Third World nations like Sudan and France,” said Lawrence Tribe, Leopold and Loeb Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard University. “Allowing POW’s to engage in sexually explicit dramatic productions goes a long way to ensuring that human rights are respected and that scenes like those seen in Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq will only be repeated with good production values and strong directorial vision.”
