Nobody's talking about giving up protections unilaterally. We're talking about when they come into conflict with other, also important, values. And you say I'm the one being needlessly combative?

If you don't think "feeling better about yourself" is an accurate summary of the principle that you are placing above protection of innocent life in this hypothetical torture scenario, please word it in a way that you find preferable. Or was that what you were doing when you listed a number of American constitutional amendments?