Forget Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Waterboarding Violates the Establishment Clause...

...at least if Sarah Palin is in charge of things. The Hill reports on a speech Palin gave before the National Rifle Association annual meeting on Saturday. From The Hill:

“They obviously have information on plots to carry out Jihad,” she said at the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual meeting on Saturday evening, referring to prisoners. "Oh, but you can’t offend them, can’t make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen. Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.”

There's a video of it too!





Palin gets to the quote above at around the 6:45 mark, in case you don't have the time to watch the full video.

The First Amendment prohibits, among other things, Congress from making a law "respecting an establishment of religion." I imagine that forced baptism of prisoners would run afoul of this constitutional protection.

UPDATE

The American Conservative criticizes Palin's remarks, calling her statement "sacrilegious."