September 17, 2007
Bush Nominates Mukasey For Attorney General, Still Sore Over Gonzales
UPDATED.
As expected, President Bush formally announced his nomination of retired federal judge Michael Mukasey to take the helm at the Department of Justice -- but not without an indirect jab at his critics over the resignation of the previous attorney general, Alberto Gonzales.
Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn this morning, Bush said, "When [Mukasey] takes his place at the Justice Department, he will succeed another fine judge." Recalling Gonzales' resume as a Texas Supreme Court judge, White House counsel and AG, Bush continued, "This honorable and decent man has served with distinction."
If that was a message to Gonzales' many critics in the Beltway, the president then narrowed his remarks to critics on Capitol Hill. "The attorney general takes on an important responsibility for the country. It is vital that the position be confirmed quickly. I urge the Senate to confirm Judge Mukasey promptly," he said.
Having gotten their way on Gonzales (if only after many months of drum-beating), it appears likely the Senate will accede to the president's wish. It helps that Democrat Charles Schumer, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, has long been a backer of the New York judge.
Then again, why make things easy for the White House? After recommending Mukasey for the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago, Schumer issued a statement last night that indicated Mukasey would have to work for confirmation.
"While he is certainly conservative, Judge Mukasey seems to be the kind of nominee who would put rule of law first and show independence from the White House, our most important criteria," Schumer said. And then the backhanded compliment: "For sure we’d want to ascertain his approach on such important and sensitive issues as wiretapping and the appointment of U.S. attorneys, but he’s a lot better than some of the other names mentioned and he has the potential to become a consensus nominee."
Mukasey will face plenty of questions on the matters that led to Gonzales' ouster -- Congress' role in the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys, data-mining and the NSA's warrantless surveillance program. The AG's law enforcement role extends to the White House, which Gonzales' critics accuse him of having forgotten.
Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the committee, offered what may be the prevailing initial assessment of the panel in remarks to reporters today.
"Selecting Judge Mukasey is an obvious attempt to select somebody who is not controversial and has the background we would look for," Specter said, giving a nod to President Bush. "In the history of this country, I don’t think the Justice Department has been in such disarray," Specter added, noting the pressure to confirm Mukasey quickly.
Not only was Specter no fan of Gonzales, but he has joined the committee's Democrats in pushing back against the White House on its intelligence-gathering programs. Said another committee member, Democrat Joseph Biden: "The key test for me is: will Judge Mukasey understand that as attorney general, he is the people's lawyer, not the president's lawyer?"
Expect Judiciary Committee members from both parties to grill Mukasey on how far he's willing to go to taper terrorism-related opinions from the White House Office of Legal Counsel -- something Gonzales apparently never did.
At the same time, Specter appeared to warn Democrats against girding for another battle against the White House. "It is my hope that we will not get bogged down in preconditions on [Mukasey's] nomination with respect to certain pending requests which the committee has outstanding to the administration," the senator said, in reference to subpoenas related to FISA surveillance and the U.S. attorney firings.
Conservatives, meanwhile, are already worrying over Schumer's endorsement of Mukasey for the high court, which was seconded by the liberal Alliance for Justice. Mukasey's record on terrorism-related cases is pretty impeccable by conservative standards, and the right may just have to live with an AG who's less of an ideological kindred spirit than, say, former Solicitor General Ted Olson. (Time magazine has some more conservative complaints about Mukasey here.)
Even if Senate Democrats make his confirmation hearings a little uncomfortable, it's unlikely Mukasey will meet a great deal of resistance. Time is an issue here, as DOJ is more or less rudderless and suffering from serious esteem issues. Mukasey has plenty of work to do in that regard, and he knows it.
Remarking that his confirmation would return him to DOJ after 35 years, Mukasey said, "The principles that guide the department remain the same.... to uphold the law with unswerving fidelity to the U.S. Constitution." The former federal judge from New York expressed his respect for those who serve in the Justice Department "day in and day out," adding, "My fondest hope and prayer at this time is, if confirmed, I can give them the support and leadership that they deserve."
Bush announced that Assistant AG Peter Keisler will assume acting AG duties, while the current acting AG, Paul Clement, would return to his job as solicitor general in preparation for the coming U.S. Supreme Court session (as previously predicted).
Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Mukasey's promotion to AG will be another feather in Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani's cap. Mukasey presided over the prosecution of the 1993 World Trade Center attack, the first significant act of terrorism in New York before 9/11. In his announcement today, Bush noted that Mukasey received high praise for his conduct of that trial from an appeals court, and that shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, Mukasey reopened his court in the Southern District of New York, where "he and other judges in his district worked day and night to ensure the application for warrants was processed... and rule of law upheld."
The Weekly Standard has an endorsement, the Village Voice balks, and the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog has an interesting anecdote about the judge.
Posted at 12:48 PM
Posted to:
Alberto Gonzales, Arlen Specter, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, President Bush, Senate, Terrorism
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