November 06, 2007
Mukasey To Be Confirmed As AG By Next Week
Former federal Judge Michael Mukasey cleared a key hurdle today when the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 to confirm him as the next attorney general. Mukasey is expected to easily survive a floor vote by next week, upon which he will be forced to dive into the formidable task of stabilizing the Justice Department.
Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer expressed doubts about Mukasey's stand on detainee treatment but decided to cast their votes for him anyway. Mukasey had refused to say definitively whether waterboarding qualified as illegal treatment of terrorism suspects.
A CNN/ORC survey (subscription) released today finds that a majority of a half-sample of Americans, 69 percent, believe waterboarding is a form of torture. But when a different half-sample was asked if the use of waterboarding, or simulated drowning, should be allowed in an "attempt to get information from suspected terrorists," 40 percent said yes, compared with the 29 percent who asserted that waterboarding was not torture.
Because Mukasey's presumed predecessor, Alberto Gonzales, was so unpopular, the nominee was expected to skate through the confirmation process. Revelations about a secret detainee treatment policy that included the use of waterboarding appeared to change all that.
While Mukasey was never in any real danger of being voted down in committee, for a variety of reasons, he has very much been put on notice by the Democrats on that panel.
"Clearly there are grave issues at the Department of Justice, and it is a matter of urgency that capable and honorable leadership be put in place there," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., a former U.S. attorney. "Around the world, there are far too many people who believe that we not only torture but that we lie. I am very deeply torn to have voted against this nominee, but I do see a nation under the Bush administration that is on a slow and sickening slide from 'the city on the hill' that earlier presidents talked about."
Posted at 11:53 AM
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Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, Congress, Michael Mukasey, Senate
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