Holder Hearing Open Thread

Emptywheel over at Firedoglake is conducting an open thread running commentary for the Senate hearings on Eric Holder, which are going going on today. Interested readers may want to join in the fun, or find out what's going on, since C-SPAN is said not to be covering all of it.

Here's a snippet from Emptywheel's coverage, re what Holder said when questioned by Leahy on torture:

Leahy starts with waterboarding. "Two most recent nominees to serve as AG hedged on waterboarding. Do you agree with me that waterboarding is illegal?"

Holder: If you look at the history, I agree with you that waterboarding is torture.

Holder: no one above law. President has obligation to faithfully execute laws of US. Obligations from treaties and Constitution. The President acts most forcefully when he acts in manner consistent with Congressional intents and directions. It's my belief that President does not have power to authorize torture.