LegalDaily.comJustice Department Dec. 30, 2004 Memo on U.S. Torture Policy for Deputy Attorney General James B. ComeyMEMORANDUM FOR JAMES B. COMEY DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERALRe; Legal Standards Applicable Under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-2340ATorture is abhorrent both to American law and values and to international norms. This universal repudiation of torture is reflected in our criminal law, for example, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340- 2340A; international agreements, exemplified by the United Nations Convention Against Torture (the “CAT”)1; customary international law2; centuries of Anglo-American law3; and the longstanding policy ofthe United States, repeatedly and recently reaffirmed by the President.4This Office interpreted the federal criminal prohibition against torture—codified at 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-2340A— in Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under18 U.S.C. §§ 2340- 2340A (Aug. 1,2002) (“August 2002 Memorandum”). The August 2002 Memorandum also addressed a number of issues beyond interpretation of those statutory provisions, including the President’s Commander-in-Chief power, and various defenses that might be asserted to avoid potential liability under sections 2340-2340A. See id. at 31-46.Questions have since been raised, both by this Office and by others, about the_______________________________________1     Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Dec. 10. 1984, S. Treaty Doc. No. 100-20, 1465 V.N.T.S. 85. See also. e.g., International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, 999 V.N.T.S. 171.2     It bas been suggested that the prohibition against torture has achieved the slatus of jus cogens (i.e., aperemptory norm) under international law. See. e.g., Siderman de Blake v. Republic of Argentina, 965 F .2d 699, 714 (9th Clr. 1992); Regina v. Bow Street Metro. Stipendiary Magistrate Ex Parte Pinochet Ugarte (No.3). [2000] 1 AC 147, 198; see also Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States§ 702 reporters’ note 5.3     See generally John H. Langbein, Torture and the Law of Proof Europe arid England in the Ancien Regime (1977).4     See, e.g., Statement on United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 40 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 1167 (July 5, 2004) (“Freedom from torture is an inalienab1e human right. . . .”); Statement on United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 39 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 824 (JW1e 30,2003) (“Torture anywnere is an affront to human dignity everywhere.”); see also Letter of Transmittal from President Ronald Reagan to the Senate (May 20, 1988), in Message from the President of the United States Transmitting the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment Qr Punishment. S. Treaty Doc. No. 100-20, at iii (1988) (Ratification of the Convention by the United States will dear